At Amazon’s annual Devices and Services launch event today, BMW announced that its next generation of in-car voice assistant technology will be powered by Amazon’s Alexa.
“The Alexa technology will enable an even more natural dialogue between driver and vehicle, so drivers can stay focused on the road,” said Stephan Durach, the senior vice president of development technical operations at BMW. “This will bring the digital experience to an entirely new level.”
BMW says that voice interactions have become more and more important since 2018 when it introduced the BMW Intelligent Personal Assistant. Allowing drivers to interact with their vehicle without taking their eyes off the road, voice assistants have been invested in by several automakers.
Read Also: BMW Adds Amazon Alexa To 1.3 Million Vehicles With Over-The-Air Update
Although it already offers Amazon Alexa in its vehicles, BMW says its next-generation technology will become better thanks to its new partnership with Amazon. Its voice assistant will work in concert with Alexa, providing users the benefits of an automotive-specific assistant, with the familiarity of Amazon‘s system, which is already in many homes.
The next-generation tech will be introduced in the next two years and will allow drivers to control music, remotely manage their smart home, add items to a shopping list, and check the weather. Customers will be able to choose between using these voice assistants separately or have them work together.
“This cooperation with BMW is a great example of what Alexa Custom Assistant was designed for — to make it faster and easier for companies to develop custom intelligent assistants for virtually any device, without the cost and complexity of building from the ground up,” said Dave Limp, the senior vice president of devices and services at Amazon.
Amazon has succeeded in cracking into the automotive sector. Its products can already be used in BMW vehicles, as well as in Jaguar and Ford vehicles, among others. The Amazon Echo Auto, meanwhile, is a device that was created specifically to be retrofitted into older vehicles.
