Alexa rides shotgun with Genesis, Ford and BMW

Auto owners can issue certain commands to their vehicle from within their home or wherever they happen to be, doing things like telling Alexa to start the auto, lock or unlock it, flash the lights, honk the horn, and more.

The Amazon Alexa collaboration will allow the drivers to control the vehicle from outside of it.

Genesis claims to be the first automaker to introduce Alexa, which lets users of Amazon’s Echo home hub device use voice commands to do anything from streaming music to booking an Uber.

Number of automakers are trying to develop technologies and to introduce ones that can bring ease associated with driving a vehicle.

Hyundai is the first automaker to offer Alexa integration, but other vehicles from other automakers will nearly certainly follow. “It aligns with our belief that time and convenience are the ultimate luxuries”, said Erwin Raphael, general manager of Genesis in the USA market. “Linking smart devices like Amazon Echo and Wink to vehicles via Sync would fulfill that desire”. You can flash the lights, set the car’s temperature, start and stop it, lock and unlock it, and honk the horn. Alexa skills are integrations that allow voice control of third-party products.

And, earlier this month, BMW announced an iPhone app, BMW Connected, that it says will act as a personal assistant and “get the user to [his or her] destination on time and stress-free”.

Artificially intelligent systems are becoming increasingly capable as companies like Amazon build in new functionality and team with partners for creative uses of these technologies.

To get things going, you’ll need to enable the Genesis skill within the Alexa app (available on iOS, Android, and Fire tablets), and then link your existing Genesis Connected Services Account within the aforementioned app.