Amazon is taking its popular Alexa voice-controlled system offline — to your car.
On Monday, Amazon introduced Alexa Onboard, a new voice system that lets the driver access the Alexa voice assistant through its in-car infotainment system. That means drivers can ask for directions or play music by simply asking its vehicle audio system by voice.
Panasonic, who’s one of the first partners for Alexa Onboard, made the announcement at CES. The new system also allows certain Alexa services available offline, allowing people in the car play with Alexa even when there’s no network connection.
“Enabling some of these capabilities even without an Internet connection is revolutionary,” Tom Gebhardt, President of Panasonic Corporation of North America, said in a statement.
Amazon has been aggressively pushing Alexa to be available in third party products, all under the goal of making its popular voice assistant available “everywhere.” That includes auto-vehicles as Amazon has already partnered with Ford and Hyundai for in-car availability.
But the partnership with Panasonic is important because it gives Amazon another channel to penetrate the auto market. Panasonic is the market leader in the vehicle infotainment space, with a 11.5 percent market share, according to a 2016 report by Strategy Analytics. Another study by Research and Markets estimates the in-car infotainment market to grow into a $30 billion market by 2022.
Source: Tech CNBC
Amazon wants you to talk to Alexa in your car, even when you're not online