After a holiday season where many Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant-enabled devices were exchanged as gifts, in-car technology continues with its march toward fully integrating your vehicle into the tech lifestyle.
Related: Infiniti Adds Amazon Alexa Skills
First, Toyota announced that 2018 Toyota models equipped with the Toyota Entune 3.0 app suite and 2018 Lexus models equipped with the Lexus Enform App Suite 2.0 will feature Amazon Alexa integration. Drivers and passengers in those vehicles will be able to communicate with Alexa via voice commands to do everything from controlling entertainment in the vehicle to adding items to a shopping list to controlling their own "smart" home. Toyota says more models will include this feature in 2019.
For those who prefer Google's services, the 2018 Consumer Electronics Show revealed that Google Assistant is now available as an app in Android Auto. Like Alexa, drivers and passengers can use voice commands to control features within their vehicle's multimedia system, as well as ask questions, find out the weather ... you get the idea.
It's nice to see that these features are spreading out across vehicles and becoming less manufacturer-specific — but it'll also make it more difficult to figure out who's on the phone, who's talking to Alexa or Google, and who's just muttering to themselves.
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