Echo Auto by Amazon adds the power of Alexa to the car

Amazon has announced the Echo Auto, an easy way to add the power of Alexa to your car.

Designed exclusively for in-car usage, Echo Auto has 8 microphones and far-field technology to hear you even in noisy traffic conditions.

Echo Auto is powered by your car's 12V charging socket or USB port.  The device connects to your car stereo system for audio playback using a 3.5 mm auxiliary cable or Bluetooth connection. It connects to Alexa through the Alexa app on your smartphone and uses your existing data plan to stream your favourite music, make a call or send messages to your phone contacts, and more.

Here’s how Echo Auto works -

Talk to Alexa with far-field technology

With its eight-microphone array, despite noisy road conditions, Alexa can listen customer’s request to play music, answer questions, read the news, add items to the To-Do list, and check when complete, along with control smart home appliances, set reminders, build your shopping list or manage your calendar all while your eyes stay on the road.

Stream favorite music into your car

With Echo Auto, customers can stream ad-free music from Amazon Prime or access music from other providers such as Apple Music, JioSaavn, Gaana or Hungama Music —just say “Alexa, play road trip songs”.

Call or message your phone contacts

Make hands-free calls to any family, friend or office contact saved on the smartphone. Android phone users can also send text messages. Echo Auto connects to the phone and defaults to its mobile network for calls and text messages to contacts saved in the phone's address book. It will use mobile data for Drop-in and making announcements on other Echo devices.

Ask Alexa for entertainment, information, and more

When a customer is busy driving, information is just a voice-request away with the Echo Auto. Ask Alexa about cricket scores, questions about history, geography and the latest news updates from NDTV, Aajtak or Bollywood Hungama News. Customers can also set up reminders and add items to the shopping list when on-the-go.

Get directions to your favorite places

Echo Auto uses the default navigation app on the smartphone and its data plan to provide directions. To ask Alexa to navigate to home or work, go to ‘Your Locations’ in the Alexa app settings and add the addresses. To update or check the default navigation app, visit the Traffic section in Alexa App.

Customise the Alexa experience

With a selection of over 30,000 Alexa skills in English, customers can ask Alexa for ESPN Cricinfo, Ted Talks, Impossible Bollywood Quiz or sports updates, listening to podcasts, and play fun games. Customers can also enjoy listening to books from Audible or Kindle when driving around, just by asking Alexa.

Privacy by Design

Like all Echo devices, Echo Auto is built with multiple layers of privacy protections, including a mic on/ off button that electronically disconnects the microphones. Additionally, customers have control over their voice recordings—with the ability to view, hear, and delete utterances at Alexa Privacy Settings or in the Alexa app, at any time.

“Customers in India tell us they want to take Alexa with them everywhere they go, and we’re delighted to offer them an easy way to add Alexa to the car they already own”, Enjoy ad-free music with no breaks or RJ talks, listen to that unfinished audio book on-the-go, or make calls without the distraction of looking at your smartphone by using simple voice commands. We cannot wait to see how customers in India take Alexa on the road,” said Parag Gupta, Head of Amazon Devices India.