The electronics giant will introduce 8 new Alexa products in total, also including a subwoofer and a microwave oven. At least some of these devices will be announced at an event later this month, said CNBC, citing unnamed sources.
Amazon already worked closely with supplier Anker in bringing an in-car device to market in January called the Roav VIVA. It’s a small DIY speaker that let’s you control music, CarPlay, Android Auto and more by voice. Anker and Amazon engineers worked together on the product that sells for $59.99 on Amazon.
An Anker spokesman told us this spring,”…as this was the first product to bring the full Alexa voice experience to the car, we had to overcome some unique challenges to make sure the ROAV VIVA would recognize voice commands in the noisy environment of a car. Our engineers and Amazon’s Alexa team worked for months to tune and test our far field microphones. The ROAV VIVA is the result of a deep collaborative between Anker Innovations and Amazon on both the hardware and software front.”
Garmin also offers an Echo-like device for the car with Alexa voice capability to call up navigation directions, music on demand, news, traffic and more.
Car makers have been steadily adding Alexa to their infotainment systems with Audi announcing Tuesday it will offer Alexa capability on models starting in January, joining others including Hyundai, BMW, Toyota and more.
The growing smart speaker market is expected to be worth $30 billion by 2024, says Global Market Insights.
Sonos already has an amplifier and subwoofer that works with Alexa, and GE sells a smart microwave.
For other aftermarket products with voice agents and Alexa see also Alexa Turn the Channel
