A small device that can be connected to a USB or the car’s 12 V outlet and that puts the Alexa assistant on our trips, that is what Echo Auto offers, already available in Spain for 59.99 euros through this link.
With a discreet design, it is specially designed to hear and recognize our voice over the music of the car, the air conditioning and other background noises. In this way, it allows us to attend to our requests, and even control the home automation while we are traveling.
Logically, we can play music with it, or make calls, play games, set reminders and more, making us feel as if we are in the fantastic car, answering our commands. Of course, it doesn’t interact with the car, so we can’t hope to give the car intelligence far from it.
The Echo Auto has a set of eight microphones, and can be connected to the car stereo using a 3.5mm jack or Bluetooth (it does not have a built-in speaker). We can also use our own bluetooth speaker if we deem it necessary.
It can be linked with Alexa through the Alexa mobile app, and it will be the data from the mobile that is consumed in order to obtain the familiar functions of the assistant, including music playback and calls. This means that it does not have a SIM input to be independent in the Internet connection, it always depends on the mobile it is associated with.
A good first step towards having an assistant in the car, although surely in the future we will see more independence in every way.
