FCA Announced as First Automotive OEM to Implement Amazon's New Alexa Custom Assistant

AUBURN HILLS, Mich., Jan. 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ --

• Alexa Custom Assistant makes it fast and easy to create intelligent voice experiences in FCA products
• Technology introduces the unique capability of two in-vehicle voice assistants to co-exist and work together to fulfill customer requests
• Dual-assistant cooperation enabled by advanced artificial intelligence

FCA will be the first automaker to implement Amazon's Alexa Custom Assistant into its vehicles, making it fast and easy to create intelligent voice experiences for FCA products. The Alexa Custom Assistant solution is built directly on the Alexa technology stack within FCA's Uconnect system and can be tailored to each FCA brand personality and customer need with a unique wake word, voice, skills and capabilities.

This innovative technology also introduces the unique capability of two in-vehicle voice assistants to simultaneously cooperate and fulfill customer requests. This allows the FCA intelligent assistant to act as the product specialist with features and capabilities specific to the vehicle, while Alexa helps the customer with weather, smart home control, music and more.

"Our customers expect to easily connect with their digital lifestyles wherever they go and today we responded with plans to offer new intelligent experiences built on Alexa's world-class voice AI technology," said Mark Stewart, Chief Operating Officer, FCA - North America. "We look forward to the expanding partnership with Amazon and the integration of Alexa Custom Assistant within our powerful Uconnect system, as we continue on our path to put customer needs and expectations at the center of everything we do."

The Alexa Custom Assistant enables this dual-assistant cooperation by using advanced artificial intelligence to determine the customer's intent and then routing the request to the proper voice assistant for the job — if the assistant invoked by the customer cannot fulfill the request, but the other voice assistant can, it will hand-off the request without any additional customer participation, resulting in a convenient, intuitive and delightful customer experience.

"We are pleased to work with FCA as the first automotive partner to implement Alexa Custom Assistant in its vehicles," said Ned Curic, Vice President, Alexa Automotive. "FCA has made it a priority to offer an intelligent assistant experience their customers will love, and we are excited to collaborate with them to deliver that capability."

FCA has already begun the planning process for the integration of the Alexa Custom Assistant in its future models.

Amazon
Amazon is guided by four principles: customer obsession rather than competitor focus, passion for invention, commitment to operational excellence and long-term thinking. Customer reviews, 1-Click shopping, personalized recommendations, Prime, Fulfillment by Amazon, AWS, Kindle Direct Publishing, Kindle, Fire tablets, Fire TV, Amazon Echo and Alexa are some of the products and services pioneered by Amazon. For more information, visit amazon.com/about and follow @AmazonNews.

FCA
Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) is a global automaker that designs, engineers, manufactures and sells vehicles in a portfolio of exciting brands, including Abarth, Alfa Romeo, Chrysler, Dodge, Fiat, Fiat Professional, Jeep®, Lancia, Ram and Maserati. It also sells parts and services under the Mopar name and operates in the components and production systems sectors under the Comau and Teksid brands. FCA employs nearly 200,000 people around the globe. For more details regarding FCA (NYSE: FCAU/ MTA: FCA), please visit www.fcagroup.com.   

SOURCE FCA

Related Links

http://www.fcanorthamerica.com