There was the Dodo ... then the car radio?

Remember the 8-track stereo?When a new car company in the US, Detroit Electric, rolls out its first model in August, it will have a unique feature beyond the fact that it's electric, writes Brian Byrne.

It won't have a radio. All audio into the car will be delivered by smartphone, according to the carmaker. Which has the potential to be a quantum change for in-car entertainment since the first car radio made its appearance in 1930.

Web browsing, music streaming, and satellite radio are rapidly becoming the main entertainment and information delivery systems in the modern car.

Remember when this was cool?

Others have come … and gone, in this writer's memory. The 8-track stereo in the mid-60s (top). The Compact Cassette players in the 1970s. CD players from 1985.

That last is, apparently next for the chopping block. But the radio itself?

Well, delivery systems might change, but with 90 percent of adults in the US still listening to radio every week, it's not yet ready to join the 8-track. We're all radioheads in Ireland too, so that thing with buttons, real or virtual, in the centre stack is likely to be with us for a long time yet.

Fastest car for Top Gear Live

The world's fastest production car, the SSC Ultimate Aero TT, will feature at the Top Gear Live show in the RDS between 3-6 December.

The all-new show for this year has more cars, more stunts and — crucially — more fire!

The key sponsor of the show in Ireland Brown Thomas.

Highlights include constantly burning rally cars, the world’s largest interactive game, the world’s first indoor loop-the-loop, the Stig leading a troupe of world record-breaking precision drivers — not to mention the ringmasters themselves; Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May at the head of the motoring mayhem.

Ticket prices start at €49. For ticket information log on to www.topgearlive.ie or www.ticketmaster.ie or call 0818 300 800.