Amazon launched Wednesday the second-generation model of Echo Auto, a smaller and slicker gadget aimed to broaden the e-commerce big’s attain by bringing its Alexa voice assistant into extra automobiles.
Echo Auto, which first got here to market in 2018, connects to a car’s infotainment system to carry the Alexa assistant into the car. A driver can both plug the gadget into the car’s auxiliary port or through a smartphone’s Bluetooth connection and the Alexa app.
Essentially the most notable modifications within the second-generation model, which prices $54.99, is its smaller dimension and slicker styling in addition to a new adhesive mount to permit drivers some flexibility in the place they could wish to safe the gadget.
Picture Credit: Amazon
The Echo Auto now has 5 microphones to make sure a driver’s request is heard over typical background highway noise and even music, in keeping with Amazon. It additionally comes with a Fast Cost 3.0 licensed adapter that can be utilized to quick cost a telephone.
On the function entrance, Amazon has added roadside help to Alexa, which suggests it’s additionally coming to Echo Auto. Customers can say “Alexa, name Roadside Help,” to attach with an agent who will request assistance on a driver or passengers’ behalf for issues akin to a working out of gasoline or a flat tire.
Customers also can flip their smartphone right into a driver-friendly show through a function referred to as Auto Mode, which is launched through the Alexa app on their smartphone. Auto Mode isn’t new — it was first talked about two years in the past — but it surely’s sticking round for good purpose.
Amazon needs to supply one other choice to homeowners of older automobiles that lack the upper decision and bigger shows generally present in new fashions. And it exhibits that Amazon is eager to seize the complete car market not merely through automaker partnerships by which Alexa is embedded know-how within the automotive.
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