Toyota Brings Amazon Alexa to Select Models

Joining BMW, Toyota will introduce Amazon Alexa to certain cars in the U.S. starting this year. The rollout will continue to more models in 2019.

Toyota hasn’t specified which vehicles will receive the cloud-based voice service, only saying it would be available on certain Toyotas with the Toyota Entune 3.0 App Suite and Lexuses with the Lexus Enform App Suite 2.0. From the car, drivers can ask Alexa to get directions, read the news, add items to a shopping list, and adjust the temperature in their homes equipped with smart technologies.

Ford, Nissan, and Hyundai have also partnered with Amazon to offer Alexa capabilities. On many vehicles, drivers can remotely lock the doors, change the car’s temperature, and switch the lights from any device compatible with Alexa.

Kudos to Toyota for allowing drivers to interact with Amazon Alexa in their cars. But what the automaker really needs is to catch up with the rest of the competition in offering Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. There are no Toyota or Lexus vehicles that offer these features, but you’ll find plenty from Ford, GM, Honda, Hyundai, and countless other automakers.

At the Consumer Electronics Show this week, Google showed off its rival to Amazon Alexa. The tech company is rolling out its Google Assistant feature to Android Auto this week in the U.S.

Source: Toyota

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