Photo: SEAT
At the Frankfurt Motor Show in 2017, Spanish carmaker SEAT announced it will be introducing Amazon’s Alexa software for some of its vehicles. It then rolled out the service in Germany and the UK, becoming the first European car company to do so.
As of this week, Alexa will be a common sight in cars sold in Spain, Italy, and France, as the Spanish have decided to expand their offering. The service will be offered via the SEAT Media Control with Amazon Alexa app on the Ibiza, Arona, Leon, Ateca and the new Tarraco.
“Customers in the UK and Germany have enjoyed using Alexa to optimize their time in the car and simplify access to certain features in the safest way,” said in a statement SEAT president Luca de Meo.
“We are excited to extend that functionality to customers in Spain, Italy & France, enabling those with a compatible vehicle to check the weather, play music, and more just using their voice.”
Voice-activated assistant systems are becoming a thing in Europe. This year alone, both BMW and Mercedes launched their in-house developed such software, with the brands of the PSA group soon to follow.
Unlike BMW’s assistant, for instance, which is capable of explaining to the driver how different functions of the car work, Alexa can only be used to check the weather, play music, find points of interest or manage the personal schedule.
SEAT did not say whether the feature will be made available as standard on some models or customers will have to pay extra for it.
The brand is not at its first attempt of becoming a trend-setter in the European automotive industry. A while back, SEAT was the first brand in the world to integrate Waze into its vehicles. It did the same when it brought Shazam’s song recognition system to the auto world.
“Customers in the UK and Germany have enjoyed using Alexa to optimize their time in the car and simplify access to certain features in the safest way,” said in a statement SEAT president Luca de Meo.
“We are excited to extend that functionality to customers in Spain, Italy & France, enabling those with a compatible vehicle to check the weather, play music, and more just using their voice.”
Voice-activated assistant systems are becoming a thing in Europe. This year alone, both BMW and Mercedes launched their in-house developed such software, with the brands of the PSA group soon to follow.
Unlike BMW’s assistant, for instance, which is capable of explaining to the driver how different functions of the car work, Alexa can only be used to check the weather, play music, find points of interest or manage the personal schedule.
SEAT did not say whether the feature will be made available as standard on some models or customers will have to pay extra for it.
The brand is not at its first attempt of becoming a trend-setter in the European automotive industry. A while back, SEAT was the first brand in the world to integrate Waze into its vehicles. It did the same when it brought Shazam’s song recognition system to the auto world.
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