Alexa in the Car: Amazon, Ford to offer access to control, search and shop home automation features on the road.
Amazon and Ford team up to provide consumers the capability to access their car from home and call up other features from their vehicle through Alexa – The cloud-based voice service of Amazon.
The Alexa capability in the car via Ford SYNC 3 AppLink allows the users to add items to the Amazon shopping lists, play music, request news, search and transfer the local destinations to navigation, listen to audiobooks inside the vehicle and more.
In the user’s car, the access to Alexa provides the capability to command Internet-enabled functions like garage doors, security systems, lighting and various other Alexa home automation devices. These incredible features enable the electric vehicle owners to monitor the vehicle readings, including battery range and fuel level, unlock and lock the doors, stop and start their engine and get the vehicle information with the use of voice commands.
Over the last year, hundreds of thousands of consumers who supported and encouraged Amazon Alexa including the ones who received an Echo Dot or Amazon Echo as a holiday gift will be able to experience Alexa very soon. A new collaboration between Amazon and Ford Motor Company is making this possible.
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Amazon and Ford are aligned around a vision that the user’s voice must be the principal way to interface with the user’s favorite services and devices. The customers can start their vehicles from home and manage the smart home features while on road – making life easier.
Ford has rolled out its Alexa integration in 2 phases. The first one connects the users to their cars from the comfort of home via Alexa devices like Amazon Tap, Amazon Echo and Echo Dot.
The second one enables the user to tap into a wide set of Alexa skills utilizing the user’s voice while driving – helping the users in keeping their eyes on the road and hands on the wheel.
Alexa enhances the experience of the driver both inside and outside of the vehicle. The capability to utilize the users’ voice to handle to-do lists, access entertainment, control their smart home and more makes for an incredible driving experience.
Alexa on the go
From their car, the Ford drivers with SYNC 3 can ask Alexa to add the items to shopping lists, check news, play music, read weather reports and more. For example, the Ford driver can ask Alexa to add batteries or milk to his/her shopping list without picking up a pen.
This industry-first in-car ability via Ford SYNC 3 AppLink requires drivers click the button for voice recognition on the steering wheel and then say “Alexa,” and that should be followed by a command or question.
In the vehicle, the drivers can speak to Alexa and ask it to pinpoint the desired destination and then, Alexa can transfer the address to SYNC 3 navigation system.
The customers can also continue to experience their favorite while on the road. Alexa will be able to convert into an audible audiobook recording to start reading again where the driver finished last time, with the help of Whispersync for Voice.
Related Read: Are We Being Smart About Smart Homes?
Many Alexa home automation devices can be accessed by the customers to control thermostats, security systems, lighting and more from the vehicle.
Alexa at Home
C-MAX Energi, Fusion Energi and Ford Focus Electric owners will be the first to access home-to-car capability utilizing MyFord Mobile Technology. The owners of Ford electric vehicle can administer their vehicle from home very easily making use of Amazon Tap, Echo Dot, Amazon Echo through Alexa. They can do the following things by communicating with Alexa through one of these devices.
- Obtain a vehicle mileage summary
- Learn fuel level
- Check range and charge status
- Unlock or Lock doors
- Start or Stop the engine
Check out the video demonstration of the integration of Amazon Alexa with Ford vehicles.
SmartDeviceLink Support
The alliance to unite Alexa with the car introduced Amazon to the AppLink software of Ford, which offers the protocol for applications of a smartphone to communicate with Ford SYNC 3.
Now, AppLink is built on the open source SmartDeviceLink software. In 2013, the rapidly growing standard came into existence when Ford had come up with original AppLink code to motivate other automakers to acquire and utilize the software to connect compatible smartphone applications with their own connectivity systems.
The SmartDeviceLink association will allow the automakers to further enhance the open-source software for all the members and provide service providers and application developers more opportunities to get to consumers across several automaker product lines.
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About The Author:
Savaram Ravindra was born and raised in Hyderabad, popularly known as the ‘City of Pearls’. He is presently working as a Content Contributor at Tekslate.com and Mindmajix.com. His previous professional experience includes Programmer Analyst at Cognizant Technology Solutions. He holds a Masters degree in Nanotechnology from VIT University. He enjoys spending time with his friends. He can be contacted atsavaramravindra4@gmail.com. Connect with him also on LinkedIn and Twitter.