<P> In 1964 Philips launched the Compact Cassette, and in 1965 Ford and Motorola jointly introduced the 8 - track tape in - car tape player . In subsequent years cassettes supplanted the 8 - track, and improved with longer play times, better tape quality, auto - reverse, and Dolby noise reduction . They were popular throughout the 1970s and' 80s . While the CD had been on the market since 1982, it was in 1984 that Pioneer introduced the CDX - 1, the world's first car CD player . It was known for its improved sound quality, instant track skipping and the formats increased durability over cassette tapes . Due to the ability that allowed drivers and passengers to change up to 10 CD's at a time, car CD changers started to gain popularity in the late 80s and continuing throughout the 90s . Stock and aftermarket compact disc players began appearing in the late 1980s, competing with the cassette . The first car with an OEM CD player was the 1987 Lincoln Town Car, and the last new cars in the American market to be factory - equipped with a cassette deck in the dashboard was the 2010 Lexus SC430, and the Ford Crown Victoria . </P> <P> From 1974 to 2005 the Autofahrer - Rundfunk - Informationssystem was used by the German ARD network . Developed jointly by the Institut für Rundfunktechnik and Blaupunkt, it indicated the presence of traffic announcements through manipulation of the 57 kHz subcarrier of the station's FM signal . ARI was replaced by the Radio Data System . </P> <P> In the 2010s new ways to play music came into competition with the CD and FM radio such as internet radio, satellite radio, electrical connector s and Bluetooth connectors for portable media player s, and in - dash slots for memory card s . And the automobile head unit became increasingly important as a housing for backup cameras, navigation systems, and displays for smartphones such as CarPlay, Android Auto, and MirrorLink . Some vehicle manufacturers have their own systems for syncing the car with smartphones, for example: BMW Assist, Hyundai Blue Link, iLane, MyFord Touch, Ford SYNC, OnStar, and Toyota Entune . </P> <Ul> <Li> Stock system: the OEM application that the vehicle's manufacturer specified to be installed when the car was built . </Li> <Li> Head unit: Car stereos generally lag behind audio technology . Cassette decks have been found in cars as late as the 2008 Acura TL, and even in the 2010s the CD player is still a standard part of most car stereos, although their non-car counterparts (i.e. Walkmans) have long disappeared from consumer shelves . For decades most vehicle dashboards had a rectangular "cutout" where the head unit was installed (which went above another rectangular cutout for the HVAC controls), and this allowed for straightforward replacement of the stock system with an aftermarket stereo, since audio technology improves faster than model updates from car companies . These cutouts, however, also allowed for easy theft of the car radio . Due to auto manufacturing differences over the years, aftermarket headunit products are manufactured in multiple form factors . The primarily used size is mostly referred to by its legacy name of DIN, which refers to ISO 7736 . DIN headunits come as single DIN or double DIN . The trend away from dashboards with cutouts, along with improving car audio technology, has eroded sales from the aftermarket stereo industry . </Li> <Li> Car speakers </Li> <Li> Mobile audio power amplifier s </Li> <Li> Subwoofers </Li> <Li> Capacitors </Li> <Li> Damping: sound deadening material is often used in the door cavities and boot / trunk area to damp excess vibration of the panels in the car in response to loud subwoofer bass tones, especially the boot / trunk . </Li> </Ul>

When did cd players come out in cars