[Mukund]

After years of positioning its Microsoft Sync systems as the big in-car USP, Ford is now all set to make its cars Amazon Echo enabled. More specifically the In-Car Alexa personal assistant - which now takes the connectivity story ahead after Apple CarPlay or Android Auto have already become commonplace. Ford has partnered with Amazon for the Industry-first In-Car Alexa voice command assist system. This is the first such application in amass car brand's portfolio and will work on similar lines as the latest voice-guided personal assistants that BMW and Mercedes-Benz have unveiled only recently. The Sync interface will continue to be in play here, and shall work in conjunction with Amazon's flagship communicator. The Alexa voice assist system will be integrated into the latest Microsoft Sync 3 AppLink and will respond to various languages. According to our sources, Amazon is training the Alexa to understand multiple languages including Indian dialects. This leads us to believe that the product is set for a worldwide release, and not just within the United States.

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[Wanderers]

Originally Posted by Mukund

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Hi,

Ford Alexa app was already available since last year. However in India, only recently after the latest Sync 3 update it got enabled. Since I already had Ford Alexa app in my phone, it immediately showed after Sync update couple of weeks back. Its working well and is voice enabled.

[GTO]

Fact 1 = The voice commands on all cars suck. Car manufacturers simply don't understand that tech which is an industry in itself.

Fact 2 = Of all the ones I've tried, Alexa is the absolute best at carrying out voice commands. It's scary intelligent.

Hence, I see this as great news and hope it becomes the standard (just like Android Auto & Apple CarPlay). Ford's ICE has usually had the best interfaces, so this move is no surprise.

But there should be an option to turn it off. Don't want Alexa listening to my private conversations and storing them on AWS. That just feels creepy.