While Alexa is in our living rooms, kitchens, bedrooms and on our TV, she’s also integrated into our cars.

How cool is that?

Imagine driving your car and asking Alexa about the weather or driving instructions.  But, Alexa in your car is more than that.  She ready to offer  you a  variety of useful and entertaining content.  Stuck in traffic?  Ask Alexa for a relaxation tip.  Or keep yourself focused on your goals and get motivational tips and healthy pep talks so you don’t binge on junk food at the gas station with the My Better Nutrition Alexa Skill.  Or, you can learn to develop your intuition and listen to intuitive development tips.  Interested in discerning what your dreams mean?  There’s an Alexa Skill that offers dream intrepetation with Alexa “Positive Living“.

So, what about the Alexa integration in cars?

GearBrain researched and found that Ford integrated Alexa to its Sync in-car infotainment system for a wide range of models built in 2016 onwards. This gives the driver the ability to ask Alexa questions and issue commands or simply listen to podcasts like they would at home.

In 2018, BMW showed off how it would integrate Alexa with its car infotainment system. But then, in early 2019, it demonstrated a voice assistant of its own, summoned by saying ‘Hey BMW’. You can even change the name to anything you like, it’s called an innvocation to ‘wake-up’ Alexa.  It’s great to see BMW harnassing Amazon’s voice platform to integrate in their cars but they have also developed their own Alexa Skill that users can use from their Alexa app or the Amazon Echo Devices.

As Alexa developers, we applaud BMW for investing in their own custom Alexa Skills.  For example, from your smartphone Alexa App or your Amazon Echo device,  say,  “Alexa, open BMW” and she’ll connect with the BMW Connector Alexa Skill.  You can ask Alexa to check your battery charge from  your i3 electric car, check if the windows are closed, remotely activate the climate control, and lock the doors.

With Alexa integrated into cars, drivers can use the voice assistant just as they do at home; you can ask Alexa to check the front door to be sure it’s locked as you drive away, or switch off the smart plug connected to your electric hair curlers when you forget.   Here’s a few of the cars that are Alexa integrated:

• BMW
• Ford
• Lexus
• Audi
• Lincoln
• Toyota

When you’re out car shopping and exploring the latest technology integrated, be sure to include Alexa!