Pause-and-play radio trickles down to Buick Regal, Chevy Cruze
Buick's new Regal and the Chevrolet Cruze will both benefit from a very cool in-car entertainment technology.
- North American Car, Truck and SUV of the Year (NACTOY) Awards Juror
Pause-and-play radio is a neat feature built into a few high-end General Motors models, such as the Cadillac CTS and SRX. According the GM, the Buick Regal and the budget-priced Chevy Cruze will be joining the ranks of vehicles that can benefit from this option. Pause-and-play allows you to pause live radio (AM, FM, or XM Satellite radio) for up to 20 minutes and resume playback later--sort of like a TiVo for cars.
The system even works when a vehicle is turned off. For example, if you're listening to your favorite talk radio program during your commute to work, you could pause the broadcast while you stop for gas and resume when you're back in the driver's seat. Behind the scenes, pause-and-play stores the audio data on the vehicle's hard drive, which all but confirms that the Cruze and Regal's navigation systems will be HDD-based.
The Buick Regal and the Chevrolet Cruze will debut in spring and fall of 2010, respectively.