Some of my favourite podcasts just arrived in these BMW and Mini cars

Over 180,000 BMW and Mini cars just gained native access to some of the UK’s most popular podcasts and radio stations.

Podcasts like The News Agents and The Rest is History, along with radio stations like Radio X, Heart and LBC, and curated playlists, are available via the new Global Player app.

Since it’s a native app built for the BMW and Mini infotainment system, instead of hooking up your phone and navigating to podcast and radio apps through Apple CarPlay or Android Auto, the content is streamed from the car itself. Just download the app to your car from the BMW or Mini app store, log in, and you’re good to go.

There are several benefits here – and I say that as someone who uses Apple CarPlay and my iPhone’s media apps almost every time I drive. If you’re already a Global Player user, then logging into the new BMW and Mini app will be just like logging into the same service on your phone, tablet, computer or other device. And because it’s the same account across all devices, you can pause a podcast when you park, then continue where you left off on your phone or from a speaker at home.

Global produces its own podcasts, like daily political show The News Agents and fellow sports show The Sports Agents, while also hosting podcasts from other companies. The Global Player provides access to Goalhanger podcasts, like The Rest is Politics and The Rest is Football, Radio X podcasts like The Chris Moyles Show, plus shows from BBC Sounds, and publications like the Financial Times and Vogue.

Data used to stream content from the Global Player app is included as part of the connectivity provided by a BMW Digital Premium or Mini Connected Package subscription.

BMW says over 180,000 vehicles on the road in the UK support the new Global Player app, and that figure is expected to pass 300,000 by the end of this year. Upcoming cars like the all-new BMW iX3, and all members of the Neue Klasse family, will gain access too.

It’s an interesting time for in-car entertainment. With Apple’s new CarPlay Ultra not yet available widely, and car manufacturers continuing to create better infotainment systems of their own – which are less reliant on smartphone connectivity and, crucially, form a continuous revenue stream via data subscriptions – we could see a shift away from phone-led infotainment in the years ahead.