Neste Curates Unique Playlists to Help Lower Drivers' Heartrates

Following its campaign for more climate-friendly driving, Neste studied what kind of music Finns listen to while driving, and what they think is the best driving music. As high-tempo music has been shown to affect driving behaviour, Neste created playlists for various routes in Finland that have a calming impact on the heart rate and promote road safety and a more climate-friendly driving style. Playlists were also created for a few driving routes abroad that are known by the Finns.

In the survey carried out by Neste in April 2023, 82% of the women and 76% of the men who responded felt that listening to music while driving reduced stress caused by congestion and other traffic-related factors. Overall, the respondents (58%) felt that listening to music could help the driver relax. Listening to the right type of music in the car was said to help the driver relax, enjoy the experience, stay awake and avoid boredom. 74% of the respondents felt that listening to music was pleasant during longer trips in particular.

“According to our study, congestion and traffic jams cause irritation and increase the heart rate in 55% of drivers. We created customised playlists for drivers for frequently used and congested commuting routes to avoid speeding, maintain a relaxed atmosphere in the car and minimise emissions. The tempo of the songs in the playlists is below 90 beats per minute, which is ideal for keeping the heart rate appropriately calm behind the wheel. We hope that our playlists will also bring joy to the drivers, and we wish for safe travels during the summer driving season,” says Mika Hyötyläinen, vice president, marketing communications at Neste.

For example in Finland, highways 4, 5 and 6 between Helsinki and Lahti, Kuopio and Jyväskylä and Kouvola and Lappeenranta now have their own curated playlists that aim to reduce the heart rate. For vacationers, playlists were created also for the Baltic countries, for the Via Baltica, and a few playlists for the United States, for example for the Brooklyn Bridge in New York.

The radio is on in the car –pop music is the most popular genre  

In the survey, 61% of the respondents (regardless of age, place of residence, life situation and gender) said that listening to the radio on the road was the most popular way to consume music. Around a third of the respondents used streaming services at least occasionally while driving. 

Of the respondents, 43% felt that pop music was the best kind of music for driving, while 41% favoured rock. Pop music was the most popular genre among people aged 45–54 and women, and rock was the chosen genre for more than 50% of people aged 18–24 and 35–54. Rock was the least popular genre among people over 65. 

“According to a study previously carried out by the South China University of Technology, people listening to songs with more than 120 beats per minute drove nearly 16 km/h faster on average. As part of Neste’s project, we conducted a test in which we measured the impact of songs with different tempos on the subjects’ heart rates. The songs played during the test increased the subjects’ heart rates by nearly 10% on average and up to more than 19% compared with the starting situation. The result supported the view that the music people listen to in the car has significance in terms of driving and a potential impact on road safety and emissions from transport, especially when the music is combined with a climate-friendly route selection and driving style. We have previously provided practical tips for more climate-friendly driving, and our new CO2 Friendly Beat campaign aims at helping drivers reduce their driving speed with the help of music and thereby reduce emissions,” Mika Hyötyläinen says. 

Listen to the customised playlists that have a calming impact on the heart rate when driving here.