In an effort to further enhance the driving experience, premium luxury car manufacturer BMW will introduce Amazon's voice-controlled personal assistant, Alexa, in all BMW and Mini models by mid-2018. The cloud-based voice command service allows customers to access a host of services, including entertainment and shopping facilities using just the voice command while driving. Moreover, the system will read vehicle status, play music and check movie list in nearest theaters.
Speaking about the new technology, Dieter May, Senior Vice President Digital Services and Business Models at the BMW Group said, "By making this step of integrating Alexa into our models from mid-2018, BMW and Mini will form a more intrinsic part of our customers' digital lifestyles. Voice control first featured in BMW Group cars many years ago, and we are now enhancing its functionality by adding a digital ecosystem, which will open up all sorts of new possibilities that customers can access quickly, easily and safely from their car."
Alexa will help BMW to expand the intelligent connectivity capabilities of its vehicles. Until now, the BMW Connected Drive system offered a number of services and infotainment features which could be controlled by voice commands in BMW models. In selective markets like USA, Germany and the UK, Amazon's Alexa is available with the Connected Drive mobile app. It allowed customers to control the car via remote services from home or check the fuel level or charge. More details about the technology will be known in the days to come.
