CES2020: Solutions for the Automotive Industry

What a difference a day makes. What about a whole year? Over 180,000 attendees converged on Las Vegas for the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2020, looking to understand what progress the industry has made since last year.

Amazon’s Automotive presence at CES 2020 showcased a variety of innovative connected products that use Alexa as the voice-enabled front end and Amazon Web Services (AWS) for the cloud computing backend. The team had a dedicated automotive booth alongside exhibits from automakers and others in the auto industry in the North Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center.

The automotive booth showcased how voice can shape the future of mobility, featuring Alexa-enabled vehicles from Rivian, Lamborghini, and General Motors as well as auto-specific products with Alexa Built-in. The booth brought together Alexa Automotive and AWS to showcase how we’ve come together to support the automotive industry and our customers. 

Since last year, Alexa has become more natural and conversational.  Updates to the Alexa Auto software development kit (SDK) make it easy for customers to use Alexa in the car even when connectivity is limited.  Numerous skills designed specifically for use in the car have been introduced to help customers find and pay for gas, parking, roadside assistance, and more.  And Alexa is available in more vehicles than ever before, including the most recent announcement that Lamborghini will be the first automaker to include features that allow Alexa to help with in-car controls like turning on the heated seats and changing the color of the interior lights.

In the booth, attendees experienced examples of car-to-home use cases such as “Alexa, open the garage door,” “Alexa, turn on the lights/thermostat,” and “Alexa, call home.” In addition to smart home control, you can also check on your car when you are at home, such as “Alexa, what is my tire pressure?”  Amazon also announced the FireTV rear seat entertainment solution so you can continue watching your show in your car even after you’ve left the house. Additionally, Amazon is working with Exxon Mobil to make it easy for customers to ask Alexa to pay for gas when they arrive at any one of Exxon’s 11,500 gas stations across the US.

We also know that customers want to bring Alexa into their current cars today, and attendees were able to see demonstrations of numerous aftermarket devices that make it easy to bring Alexa inside your vehicle today, even if you aren’t ready to buy a new vehicle. Attendees were also able to see Alexa in mobility options such as a bicycle.

But, the innovation didn’t stop there. As we look to the future, a demo experience in collaboration with Elektrobit was showcased in the automotive booth. It provided a view of potential machine learning and artificial intelligence solutions from both Alexa and AWS utilizing facial recognition and personalized profiles, and providing proactive Alexa car control. For example, in the future Alexa might be able to proactively ask you if you want to turn on the seat warmer when the outside temperature falls below a certain level, or provide safety reminders if Alexa detects distracted driving.

According to a recent study conducted by JD Power, consumers want to be able to access the same voice service at home and in the car. This enables consumers to use their voice to stay productive and entertained wherever they are and provides a meaningful level of consistency and personalization that is powerful.  

For a full run down on the automotive announcements made at CES, check out the Day One Blog. If you missed CES this year, you can get a quick taste of the Amazon Automotive booth in this video.