One of Amazon’s future plans is to make cars smarter with digital assistants. That is a step closer to reality now, with the launch of the Echo Auto in India.
Amazon has been trying to bring Alexa to more places and even making it portable so users can take it with them. With the new Echo Auto, it aims to bring all of Alexa’s capabilities to your car so you can continue focussing on the road while using voice commands to access the features.
It has been designed keeping in-car acoustics in mind, with an eight-microphone array and far-field speech recognition to hear the commands over the sound of the AC, traffic, or music. The Echo Auto can be powered by the 12V charging socket (Cigarette lighter) or a USB port, and the audio can be played back through your car’s stereo system either via Bluetooth or the 3.5mm aux port. It remains connected to the Alexa app on your phone and uses the data to stream content.
As with all Alexa-powered devices, the Echo Auto can stream music, manage calls or texts, fetch information or live updates, sports scores, create a to-do list, directions, and current traffic status, along with access to audiobooks and other shows.
It also considers privacy and comes with a physical mute switch that electronically switches off the microphones if you wish to do so.
Customers in India tell us they want to take Alexa with them everywhere they go, and we’re delighted to offer them an easy way to add Alexa to the car they already own
Parag Gupta, Head of Amazon Devices Indi
The Amazon Echo Auto is priced at Rs 4,999 in India and can be purchased starting January 15. Pre-orders are now open on Amazon.in.
