How to stop Apple music from playing automatically on my car

Here’s is the automation I created that worked for me— the instructions are slightly different than what Sharkinstx posted.

Here’s how I managed to make automation work:

I am running iOS 17.2.1 on a 2020 iPhone SE…

• Open “Shortcuts” app
• Tap “Automation” in the center of the menu bar at the bottom of the screen (between “Shortcuts” and “Gallery”)
• Tap “+” in upper right corner of screen
• Under the header, “Personal Automation” you can type “Bluetooth” into the search bar at the top of the screen and select it OR scroll down to where Wi-Fi, Bluetooth,  and NFC are grouped… and tap “Bluetooth”
• Just below the header, “When”, to the right of “Device”, tap “Choose” to choose your vehicle’s stereo/bluetooth connection (assuming you’ve already setup your car’s BT connection)
• Select your car’s BT connection from the collection under “My Devices”… make sure there’s a check mark next to it
• Tap “Done” in upper-right corner
• NOTE: the default on-screen setting at this point should be “Is Connected”… do not change that
• Change setting at bottom of screen to  “Run Immediately”
• Tap “Next” at top right corner of screen
• Under “Get Started” header, tap “New Blank Automation”
• Tap “Add Action”
• Under “categories” tap “Media”
• Categories under “Media” header are alphabetized; scroll down to “Playback” (go past “Music”) and tap “Play/Pause”
• On new screen, tap “Play/Pause” and change to “Pause”
• Tap “Done” at top right corner of screen

And you’re done!!

Worked for me!

(Phew)

And I do hope our valued Moderator allows me to say this, because I believe commiserating with others on this board has real value, especially since Apple has enlisted us to solve problems it created, but:

I share many’s opinion that this “feature” was intentionally programmed by Apple despite the fact it flies in the face of common User Interface behavior. It truly breeds ill-will between this customer (me) and Apple. We shouldn’t have to become programmers to defeat an obnoxious feature virtually no one has ever asked for. It’s the equivalent of your radio turning on every time you start your car. Or the CD player. Or the cassette player. And you CANNOT choose to stop it from happening. It makes me NOT want to use Apple Music— I hope it doesn’t break the board’s rules to say that.