Menu and settings

Alexa requires a mandatory set of settings and legal information to be available within the vehicles in-vehicle infotainment (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. 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. See Setup for details on Preview Mode.

(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

Wake Word

Alexa responds anytime you say ‘Alexa’.
Default state: ON.
If the customer turns off Wake Word, the wake word engine will be disabled. The customer can still use Push-to-talk (PTT) or Tap-to-talk (TTT) to invoke Alexa.

Do Not Disturb

Disables Alexa 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.

Calling & Texting

Default state: Customer selection during Setup.

(Required) Display only the connected primary Bluetooth phone on the Calling & Texting screen.

This is the phone Alexa will use for phone calls and text messages. Other phones that are connected or previously paired are not displayed here.

(Required) Delete uploaded contacts when Sync Contacts is turned off.

(Required) Delete uploaded SMS messages when Sync SMS Messages is turned off.

(Required) Allow customers open the native Bluetooth settings menu from the Calling & Texting screen.

This is shown in the example above with the Bluetooth Settings hyperlink. You may also represent this as its own button.

(Required) If no phone is connected, display the Calling & Texting screen as shown below.

(Required) If a customer selects Connect a Phone, launch the native Bluetooth pairing flow.

Once the pairing is completed, ask the customer to grant permission as indicated in Bluetooth Pairing.

Sounds

Default states: ON
For more info on using Alexa’s sounds, see Earcons and Attention system states in Invoking Alexa.

Language

See Language Handling for details on how to display language settings.

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
Wake word	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	-
Calling & Texting	[Device name]	-	[Device name #1] - Contacts > on/off - To enable calling contacts with Alexa, contacts on this phone will be uploaded to the Amazon cloud. - SMS messages > on/off - To enable SMS messaging with Alexa, SMS messages on this phone will be uploaded to the Amazon cloud. [Device name #2} ... Bluetooth Setting/Connect a phone
Sounds	-	-	Start of request sound > on/off End of request sound > on/off
Language	[current language]	-	See Language Handling
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
Wake word	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
Language	[current language]	-	See Language Handling
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

---

---

Last updated: Nov 25, 2023