First there was Amazon.com, where you could buy books online. Then there was Amazon.com, where you could buy almost anything online. Then there was Amazon Prime, where you could get free shipping; and then Amazon Prime Video, where later this year you can watch Jeremy Clarkson’s new Grand Tour.
Now there is Amazon Alexa, an intelligent personal assistant that uses voice interaction to make to-do lists, play music, set alarms, stream podcasts, play audio books, and keep you updated with news, weather, and other real-time information. Alexa can also serve as a home automation hub to control smart devices, and this is where BMW comes in.
BMW Connected, which is BMW’s personal mobility digital assistant, will be available as an Alexa skill on all Alexa-enabled devices—if those devices are located in Germany or the United Kingdom, at the present time. Alexa users in the U.S. may use the connection starting next month. The rest of the world will come under the BMW Connected-Amazon Alexa domination eventually.
What, exactly, does this BMW Connected-Alexa connection allow you to do?
First, you may use voice commands to check on your car—things like battery charge and fuel level which might be especially important to BMW i and iPerformance models. Alexa will allow you to lock and unlock the vehicle remotely. Using BMW Connected through Alexa, you may plan a trip, learn what time you need to depart to get there on time, and send the destination to your BMW. All of this is available by voice command through an Alexa-enabled device.
We’re thinking how much simpler life will become when all we have to do is ask our Alexa-enabled audio speaker on the coffee table to plan a trip and tell us when to leave, rather than actually get up off the couch, take our iPhone out of our pocket, turn it on, call up the BMW Remote app, and push some buttons so BMW Connected can tell us when to leave. We really are starting to turn into the Jetsons.—Scott Blazey
[Photos courtesy of BMW AG.]
