Elektrobit Announces it Will Be Among the First to Integrate Amazon Alexa Automotive Software

author: Eric Walz   

LAS VEGAS — Elektrobit (EB), a leading developer of embedded and connected technology solutions for the automotive industry, announced at CES in Las Vegas it will among the first companies to create solutions to help auto makers integrate Amazon's Alexa into their cars.

This integration will leverage EB's automotive software expertise and Amazon Alexa's voice service to enable carmakers to extend their vehicles' onboard capabilities and leverage Alexa to provide a more holistic and natural human machine interface (HMI) experience in the car.  

With the explosive rise of voice services, the car is now becoming the third space for consumers to leverage this technology outside of their homes and workplaces.

"Elektrobit's solutions can make it simpler and faster for automakers to integrate Alexa into their vehicles," said Ned Curic, Vice President, Amazon Alexa. "This is great news for customers and automakers alike, and a big step forward toward bringing Alexa into more customers' cars."

With Alexa in the car, customers will be able to ask Alexa to answer questions, play music, hear the news, get weather and traffic reports, control your smart home, and more.

"We're proud to work with Amazon to usher in a new era of in-car voice and natural language capabilities," said Christian Reinhard, Vice President, Projects, at EB. "In addition to providing a more personalized in-car experience, voice input interaction with an HMI is an effective way to minimize driver distraction." Natural Language Interaction (NLI) enables people to interact with any connected device using normal, everyday language. It understands the meaning of conversational input, just like a real conversation with a human.

EB has more than 15 years' experience in creating multimodal HMIs (voice, gesture, touch and graphics) and 11 years of continuous product development of speech and graphic user interface tools. Its HMI technology can be found in millions of vehicles that are on the road today.

Eric Walz

Originally hailing from New Jersey, Eric is a automotive & technology reporter covering the high-tech industry here in Silicon Valley. He has over 15 years of automotive experience and a bachelors degree in computer science. These skills, combined with technical writing and news reporting, allows him to fully understand and identify new and innovative technologies in the auto industry and beyond. He has worked at Uber on self-driving cars and as a technical writer, helping people to understand and work with technology.