Amazon's Alexa is coming to 2018 and newer GM vehicles
It's either time to get excited or straighten your tinfoil hat, because Amazon's personal digital assistant is coming to GM.
Amazon's personal digital assistant Alexa is becoming increasingly ubiquitous in people's homes and now, thanks to a newly inked deal with General Motors that was announced on Wednesday during Amazon's Devices event, it's going to become a fixture in many cars too.
Now, whether or not that's a good thing depends on your point of view. If you're the kind of person who likes having a digital assistant always just a shout away, this seamless transition between home and vehicle is something to be stoked for. If you're the other type, the kind who eschews digital assistants because you feel like they're always spying on you, then congratulations, you also can get excited because this'll be something new to rail against in comment threads.
See also
The deal with GM will see Alexa added to 2018 and newer vehicles from Cadillac , Chevrolet , GMC and Buick with an over-the-air software update, something that is itself becoming more common in SUVs , cars and trucks from legacy manufacturers like GM.
"GM's updatable app framework and vehicle connectivity [let] us provide customers with new technologies that enhance the ownership experience, even to customers with vehicles that are already on the road," Santiago Chamorro, GM vice president for Global Connected Services, said in a statement. "Bringing the Alexa experience to our vehicles is an example of how we are listening to our customers' feedback, and offering them the voice technology of their choice."
Speaking of choice, the decision to add Alexa comes after the announcement earlier this month that GM would be bringing Google Assistant to its cars by 2021. Android Auto and Apple CarPlay are already standard across most of the vehicles in GM's stable.
Read more: Android Auto vs. Google Assistant Driving Mode vs. Android Automotive OS:
