Amazon’s Alexa is coming to Toyota and Lexus cars (AMZN)

Rick Wilking/Reuters

• Toyota announced at CES on Tuesday that Amazon’s Alexa would be integrated with its infotainment systems.
• Alexa will appear in certain Toyota and Lexus models.
• Voice has been a challenge for carmakers; Alexa could change that.

The march of Amazon’s Alexa into the automotive world continues. At CES in Las Vegas on Tuesday, Toyota announced the voice technology would be incorporated with the carmaker’s infotainment systems.

Alexa will debut in “select Toyota and Lexus vehicles with Toyota Entune 3.0 App Suite and Lexus Enform App Suite 2.0 in 2018,” Toyota said in a statement. Lexus is the company’s luxury brand.

The statement continued: “Additional models will be available in 2019. This feature will allow Toyota and Lexus customers in the United States to interact with Alexa in the car.”

Voice-activated systems are becoming prevalent in new automobiles, either via manufacturers’ own tech or through Apple CarPlay or Android Auto. Up to this point, however, they’ve been a mixed bag. The popularity of Alexa in homes has led many observers and analysts to conclude that it could bring voice in vehicle to a new level.

“[T]hrough our integration with Amazon Alexa, Toyota and Lexus customers will soon be able to easily speak to Alexa in their cars while on-the-go,” Toyota Vice President Zack Hicks said.