In the next few weeks Spotify will begin a U.S. test of its first hardware, an auto accessory offering hands-free music control.

Dubbed the Car Thing, the device is powered by a 12-volt outlet and links to both a smartphone and car over Bluetooth. A small circular screen shows what's playing, while buttons offer access to preset playlists.

By saying, "Hey Spotify," people can make Siri- or Alexa-style requests, such as "play 'A Flaming Ordeal' by Raison d'etre" or "shuffle my 'Bedtime for Bonzo' playlist."

Spotify is only reaching out to a select group of people for testing, and the company says it's interested primarily in gauging in-car music and podcast habits. Spotify is concentrating on being "the world's number one audio platform — not on creating hardware," it wrote in a blog post.

An anonymous source for the The Verge backed this statement, saying there are no intentions to launch the Car Thing as-is, or even to the general public. Nevertheless the company has trademarked "Car Thing," "Voice Thing" and "Home Thing," laying the groundwork for potential commercial products.