Ford Adds Amazon Alexa and OTA Software Updates to Its Vehicles This Year

Branded as Power-Up, Ford's latest OTA updates promise to upgrade most of the vehicle's computer modules, which will help reduce the need for maintenance trips. According to the automaker, some updates will be completed in under two minutes, while others may take longer.

Unlike pop-ups that appear on laptops at the most inconvenient times, vehicle owners will notice that the installation took place when they start the vehicle. Power-Up is expected to be able to upgrade more than 110 device modules on higher-end models.

The biggest update that Ford is including must be the Amazon Alexa assistant. Drivers will be able to voice control smart home gadgets, make calls, find parking spaces, and more. The company plans to install the software in 700,000 vehicles across U.S. and Canada this year. Alexa will first be available via the Ford Power-Up software upgrades for the Bronco, Edge, F-150, Mustang Mach-E, and Super Duty starting this fall, with other regions to follow.

The company announced that the first OTA updates for 2021 F-150 and Mustang Mach-E owners in North America were already sent in March to 100,000 vehicles. Plus, a new Sketch that will allow people to draw on their car touchscreen and simple gaming are also expected to come to Mustang Mach-E "soon."

One update that doesn't come for free with the Power-Up software is the Ford Co-Pilot360 Technology that adds BlueCruise5 hands-free highway driving. This will be delivered to F-150 and Mustang Mach-E vehicles with an additional software purchase.

Tesla was among the first to use OTA updates. Then GM tested the waters with upgrades for 14 different 2020 models. BMW also started to use software and firmware updates. While Ford took its time to push out a better tech, it's still one of the few brands that started to implement it. This shows that slowly, the automotive industry is beginning to embrace more and more the OTA way.