BMW is announcing today that a future generation of their Voice Assistant will be powered by Amazon Alexa. This was announced today by Stephan Durach, Senior Vice-President Connected Company and Development Technical Operations BMW Group, and Dave Limp, Senior Vice President of Devices and Services, Amazon, at Amazon’s annual Devices and Services launch event.
“The Alexa technology will enable an even more natural dialogue between driver and vehicle, so drivers can stay focused on the road. This will bring the digital experience to an entirely new level,” said Stephan Durach. Dave Limp, Amazon, added: “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.”
BMW won’t reveal their exact timeline, but the press release says that “The first vehicles with the new generation of BMW’s voice assistant will launch within the next two years.” The BMW Intelligent Personal Assistant made its debut in 2018 when we had a chance to sample it at the Paris Motor Show. It has since been part of all BMW infotainment systems in new models.
BMW says that the new voice assistant will allow customers to control music, remotely manage their smart home, add items to a shopping list, or check the weather for the day. Customers can still choose to use either the BMW voice assistant and Alexa individually, or have both assistants work alongside each other.
Of course, data privacy is an item BMW addressed in today’s press release. The BMW Group ensures that customer data is protected and processed in accordance with data privacy requirements by means of established processes – across all the markets in which the company operates,” says the press release. “The BMW Group and Amazon share the strong commitment to maintaining customers’ trust and protecting their privacy, including giving them control over their data.”
