<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, USB and Bluetooth, and in - dash slots for memory card . And the automobile head unit became increasingly important as a housing for front and backup dashcams, navis, and operating systems with multiple functions, such as Android Auto, CarPlay and MirrorLink . </P> <P> Stock system is the OEM application that the vehicle's manufacturer specified to be installed when the car was built . </P>

When did fm radio become popular in cars