Amazon announced a new “Auto Mode” in the Alexa app that turns your phone into a smart, driver-friendly display that enhances Alexa’s in-vehicle voice experience. It makes it easier than ever to navigate, stay connected, and be entertained on the go while helping you focus on the road ahead.
It looks like they are trying to make Alexa available as an in-vehicle assistant. Auto Mode consists of four screens – the Auto Mode home screen, Navigation, Communicate, and Play.
The Home screen has shortcuts for playing and pausing music and news, navigating to home or work, and making calls. The Navigate screen gives you quick access to your favorite locations stored in the Alexa app, or you can also ask Alexa to help you find someplace new. Auto Mode displays a simplified list showing only the most relevant information.
On the Communicate screen, you can easily place a call, Drop-In, or make an announcement to your Alexa devices. The Play screen shows the most current media played using any Alexa device and a convenient button to play or pause, along with a list of recently played media.
According to the blog post by Amazon, Auto Mode was designed to help you stay focused on the road with easy to read visuals, large touch targets, and intuitive features and shortcuts for the most common actions used in the vehicle. Auto Mode will be available in the U.S., Canada, Germany, France, India, Italy, Spain, UK, Australia, and New Zealand on Android and iOS devices in the coming weeks.
The company is also launching a new “Start My Commute” feature in the U.S. It makes it easier to get going on your drive and works on Alexa-enabled devices like Echo Auto or Alexa-enabled vehicles. Simply call “Alexa, start my commute” to enable the Featured Routine and hear the weather, your traffic update, and the choice of entertainment. Alexa will ask if you’d like to listen to music or an audiobook, catch up on your daily news, or play a car-friendly game.
