Amazon lets you bring Alexa into any car via Echo Auto

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If you’ve been pining to activate Alexa-enabled smart devices in your home from the comfort of a classic car or winter beater, Amazon Canada has introduced a new lineup of Echo products, including the Echo Auto, offering customers even more choice in how they access that brand’s digital assistant.

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Set to be marketed as a way to bring Alexa services to vehicles without that capability built into their infotainment system, the Echo Auto is a physical device one pairs to their phone and plugs into a USB port (or 12V outlet) in their car. Sized less than half the dimension of the brand’s own remote control for its Fire Stick television accessory, the Echo Auto emanates a bluish glow atop its crown when receiving voice commands, a mannerism which will be familiar to anyone who already owns an Alexa-enabled device in their home.

Amazon recognizes the average age of vehicles on the road passed the decade mark some time ago, meaning there are scads of rigs without the built-in ability to incorporate one’s digital life. You can bet a vast number of drivers have a carefully curated music selection somewhere in their personal cloud, not to mention the likes of podcasts, grocery lists, and a myriad of other items.

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Being able to access these things on the go in a vehicle which didn’t have that capability when it rolled out of the factory could be a big deal for some people. Navigation can be handled through the user’s preferred service, as well.

The unit pairs to a smartphone, meaning it requires an attendant app and data plan through which the Echo Auto will funnel its ones and zeros. Celine Lee, Country Manager of Alexa Canada, told us in an interview that users may also pair their phone with a wi-fi hotspot if their vehicle is so equipped. This way, the Echo Auto will continue to work through the smartphone, but interface with the world through the car’s wi-fi connection.

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One wonders if there could be applications for the Echo Auto of which Amazon has not yet thought, such as in a snazzy enclosed side-by-side or other recreational vehicle. Fleet managers could install them in work trucks or delivery vehicles, making the dissemination of routes or other information a theoretical breeze.

Of course, the tinfoil-hat types will cry this is all part of a grand plan to destroy personal privacy; while it is always wise to guard one’s digital footprint, the reality is many Canadians live their life online, and Amazon will probably have no trouble meeting its sales targets in this country.

Echo Auto launches in Canada with a $79.99 price tag.