11:29 am, February 2, 2022
Jaguar Land Rover is adding Amazon Alexa voice activation to its vehicles.
The virtual assistant will be available on all new and existing Jaguar and Land Rover vehicles fitted with the latest Pivi Pro infotainment system.
Drivers can use their voice to interact with Pivi Pro’s features, including navigation, media playback, phone calls and compatible smart devices, without the need for a phone.
Amazon and JLR engineers worked directly with each other to make sure all of the usual voice-activated features could be included in the vehicle-based version.
Alexa’s design allows the use of ‘intuitive’ language, so drivers can say, for example, ‘Alexa, navigate me home’, ‘Alexa, play my chill-out playlist’ and ‘Alexa, show me nearby coffee shops’, rather than having to learn specific commands.
Those who have an Alexa at home can interact with their car remotely to find out how much range their electric vehicle has or whether they locked the doors.
Other features include asking what the weather is like or managing schedules and shopping lists.
Alex Heslop, director of electrical and electronic engineering at Jaguar Land Rover, said: ‘The seamless integration of Amazon Alexa with our Pivi Pro infotainment system gives customers simple, intuitive voice control of regularly used features, making the driving experience even more enjoyable.
‘The fact we can also offer this new feature to existing customers proves the value of our software-over-the-air-updates.’
Christian Mentz, head of Alexa Automotive International, said: ‘Customers around the world interact with Alexa billions of times each week, making life easier, more productive and more fun.
‘We’re excited to deliver that same delightful, convenient experience to Jaguar and Land Rover customers – and because Alexa is always getting smarter, new features and capabilities will be added over time and delivered to their vehicles automatically.’
To add Alexa to one of the 200,000 compatible vehicles already on the road, owners need to link the service to their JLR InControl account by scanning a QR code on the touchscreen and following the instructions.
