BMW has announced that its next-generation voice assistant will be built on Alexa technology developed by Amazon. The German carmaker currently has its own voice assistant called the Intelligent Personal Assistant (IPA), which is standard on models equipped with BMW Operating System 7 since 2018 and is also included in BMW OS 8. Customers can expect the first vehicles with the new generation of BMW’s voice assistant to be launched within the next two years.
“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, senior vice president of connected company and development technical operations at BMW Group.
“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,” commented Dave Limp, senior vice president of devices and services at Amazon.
Alexa Custom Assistant was revealed in January last year and enables to companies to access Alexa’s advanced artificial intelligence (AI) to build their own intelligent assistants. In addition to BMW, Stellantis is another OEM signed on to implement the technology in their vehicles.
According to BMW, its new voice assistant will work in cooperation with Alexa, providing customers with the benefits of an intelligent assistant that is the vehicle and services expert. Meanwhile, Alexa provides the familiar experience many customers are already using today, including the ability to control music, remotely manage their smart home, add items to a shopping list or check the weather for the day.
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It’s painstakingly obvious how we’re never really going to go all-in with voice assistants. Siri, Alexa, Google Assistant, etc., all on our phones or little home hubs (HomePod, Amazon Echo, Google Home Mini), but most people would much prefer to perform the operations themselves than to rely on voice assistants simply because they’re very hit-and-miss. Manufacturers have started putting VAs into cars since 2018, but we’ve yet to really see things take off. BMW is making a big mistake with this investment.