Anyone who has lived and commuted in a city with awful winters knows the pain of sitting in a vehicular tundra of a car while waiting for the engine to warm up.
Hyundai is hoping to entice cold-averse drivers and smart-auto-tech nerds by integrating its connected-car Blue Link technology with Amazon.com‘s (AMZN) AI assistant, Alexa.
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The automaker announced the linkup on Tuesday; the feature will be available on all 2017 models, most 2016, and some 2015 Hyundai models, said Lawrence Perrault, the senior manager of Hyundai’s connected-car program, adding that the company is working on making the feature backward-compatible on older models.
If you’ve got both an Amazon Echo and a Hyundai, this means you can command Alexa to rev up your car from the breakfast table, or lock the doors while unloading groceries onto the kitchen countertop.
Hyundai’s Blue Link app is already functional with smartwatches like the Apple (AAPL) Watch, and Android and iOS smartphones.
IBD’S TAKE: With automakers focusing on smart-auto tech, much of the value-add, and profits, will be under the hood. Maker of driver-assistance systems Mobileye reported better-than-expected earnings Tuesday.
Hyundai is at least the third carmaker to team up with Amazon Alexa. Ford Motor (F) announced in January that it was “exploring” a partnership with Amazon Alexa and Echo. Meanwhile, BMW is also said to be integrating Amazon’s smart-home and AI features into its functionality.
Amazon shares rose 3.4% to close at 743.24 in the stock market today. Ford dipped 0.2% to 12.04.
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