Panasonic has announced that it is working with Amazon to offer the next generation of in-vehicle infotainment (IVI) systems with the Alexa voice service, including certain capabilities natively embedded. The integration will change the experience OEMs can offer to in-car users, allowing them to interact with the voice service from the vehicle. Panasonic will deliver an Alexa experience optimised for in-car use, with select Alexa capabilities available with no Internet connection required.
Panasonic and Amazon are accelerating the ability for automakers to connect drivers to the helpful capabilities of Alexa. Amazon’s Alexa Onboard technology works with the Panasonic Skip Generation (Skip Gen) IVI technology announced at CES 2017 and enables drivers to use the familiar “Alexa” wake word to interact with the intelligent voice service for a variety of in-vehicle functions such as car controls like HVAC, media, communication and navigation. As part of the integration, Panasonic and Amazon are delivering the IVI functionality using Amazon’s Alexa Onboard technology, making certain Alexa capabilities available as built-in services and giving in-car users access to these Alexa features regardless of network connection.
“When drivers have access to familiar Alexa contextual commands and responses from inside the car, it opens up a new world of experiences OEMs can offer – enabling some of these capabilities even without an Internet connection is revolutionary,” said Tom Gebhardt, President, Panasonic Corporation of North America. “The Panasonic and Amazon initiative to deliver auto makes this capability significant to Panasonic’s commitment to lead in the automotive industry and one that will continue as we work with companies like Amazon to transform IVI solutions.”
Alexa is a cloud-based voice service available on Alexa-enabled devices like Amazon Echo and more. The Alexa Onboard technology integrated into Panasonic Skip Gen technology will bring voice functionality for in-car users and for the first time, offer certain select Alexa capabilities without an Internet connection.
