Menu and settings
Alexa requires a mandatory set of settings and legal information to be available within the vehicle IVI interface. Some settings such as Default voice assistant and Things to try are device only settings. Other settings will be synced with the cloud.
(Required) Provide the Alexa menu in your HMI.
Customers must be able to access an Alexa menu with your system. Please see the table below for a better understanding of the features that exist within this menu.
(Required) For the Alexa settings menu, use terminology and order of settings outlined below:
The Alexa menu will vary if a user is in Preview Mode or signed-in. Variations are outlined below. For more info on Preview Mode, see Setup
Preview Mode
- Start of request sound > on/off
- End of request sound > on/off
- List of available Alexa languages
Signed In
- Device name
- Contacts > on/off
- SMS messaging > on/off
- Start of request sound > on/off
- End of request sound > on/off
- List of available Alexa languages
(Required) Add any additional settings or items to the bottom of the standard Alexa settings.
You may require additional settings or features when integrating Alexa. Any additions must be added to the bottom of the list.

(Required) For each setting, use the strings included in the image below:
Note: The text for Alexa menu and settings, including descriptions and Things to try examples, is available to download from the Design Toolkit in all available Alexa languages
Alexa Menu

Alexa Hands-Free
“Alexa responds anytime you say ‘Alexa’.”
Default state: ON.
If the customer turns off Alexa Hands-Free listening, the wake word engine will be disabled. The customer can still use PTT or TTT to invoke Alexa.
Do Not Disturb
“Disables notifications”
Default state: OFF.
Turning on Do Not Disturb will disable notifications from Alexa.
Push-to-talk
“Assign Alexa to the voice button on your steering wheel.“
Default state: Customer selection during Setup.
Location sharing
“Share your vehicle's current location with Alexa to get smarter responses for nearby restaurants, local weather and more.”
Default state: Customer selection during Setup.
Sync navigation favorites
“Alexa can help you navigate to the favorite locations stored in your vehicle. Favorites will be uploaded to the Amazon service.”
Default state: Customer selection during Setup.
Communication
Default state: Customer selection during Setup.

(Required) Inform customers that contacts and / or SMS messages will be uploaded to Alexa Cloud when they are toggled to "on" in settings.
(Required) Provide customers a way to enable / disable contact access and / or SMS messaging without disconnecting the connected phone.
Sounds
Default states: ON
For more info on using Alexa’s sounds, see Earcons and Attention system states in Invoking Alexa.

Alexa’s Language
Default state: IVI system language

(Required) If the customer selects an Alexa language that is different than the system language, you must surface a notification of the language mismatch

Things to try
(Recommend) Use a grid layout for the “Things to Try” Menu.

(Required) Use Alexa's icons in the “Things to Try” Menu.
The complete list of the Things to Try categories and commands can be downloaded in the Design Toolkit.

(Recommended) Use pagination while navigating the “Things to Try” grid layout.

Sign out
(Required) When the user selects "sign out", ask for confirmation before signing out.
“Sign out” may be accidentally pressed in the main menu and can be a hassle for the customer to reconnect. Because of this, we require the customer to confirm sign out when selected. Use the UI elements displayed below.

Alexa menu for Preview Mode
The following screens show variations of the Alexa menu when the customer not enabled Alexa’s Preview Mode, but not yet signed in. Unless noted otherwise, settings in the menu are the same as when signed-in.

Disable Alexa

Things to try

Appendix
Settings structure and content
Title | Subtitle | UI | 2nd page / popup |
---|---|---|---|
Signed In | |||
Alexa Hands-Free | Wikipedia entries without images, and simple cards provided by Alexa Skills. | on/off toggle | - |
Do Not Disturb | Wikipedia entries with images. | on/off toggle | - |
Push-to-talk | Shopping lists, to-do lists, calendar entries and search results. | on/off toggle | - |
Location sharing | Daily and weekly forecast. | on/off toggle | - |
Sync navigation favorites | Search results for business name or POI category | on/off toggle | - |
Communication | [Device name] | - |
[Device name #1]
- Contacts > on/off - To enable calling contacts with Alexa, contacts on this phone will be uploaded to the Amazon service. - SMS messages > on/off - To enable SMS messaging with Alexa, SMS messages on this phone will be uploaded to the Amazon service. [Device name #2} ... Pair new |
Sounds | - | - |
Start of request sound > on/off
End of request sound > on/off |
Alexa language | [current language] | - | [List of available Alexa languages] |
Things to try | - | - | [Grid list of things to try] |
Sign out | - | - |
Title: Sign out
Body: Sign out and disable Alexa? Cancel | Sign out |
Preview Mode | |||
Sign in | |||
Alexa Hands-Free | Alexa responds any time you say "Alexa" | on/off toggle | - |
Push-to-talk | Assign Alexa to the voice button on your steering wheel | on/off toggle | - |
Location sharing | Share your vehicle's current location with Alexa to get smarter responses for nearby restaurants, local weather and more. | on/off toggle | - |
Sounds | - |
Start of request sound > on/off
End of request sound > on/off |
|
Alexa's language | [current language] | - | [List of available Alexa languages] |
Things to try | - | - |
[Grid list of things to try] Note: Some features require signing in with Amazon Alexa. |
Disable Alexa | - | - |
Title: Disable Alexa?
Body: Alexa will no longer be available in this vehicle. Cancel | Disable |