Image courtesy of The Verge
Sometimes you just don’t want to look away from the road or take your hands off the steering wheel to input new directions or make a call. That’s where voicebots come in and the 2018 Ford EcoSport can connect with three of them including Apple's Siri, the Google Assistant, and Amazon Alexa.
Techradar had a chance to test the third system in an EcoSport and they found that it provided “some of the most interesting features.”
Of course no system is perfect and some may think downloading a Ford app for Alexa on your phone is too much of a hassle. There were a few initial bugs as well when the testers had to reboot their phone as a refresh and the bot would sometimes not answer your questions or function.
After that, most questions regarding music choices, the weather, and navigation garnered a response from Alexa. If you ask for something specific like a Starbucks, a list of options will appear on the infotainment screen. They even managed to order some beef jerky at Amazon.com, stream a Radiohead album, and even close the garage door using a Vivint security system. But not test is complete without a bit of goofing off and many trivia questions were asked.
This kind of hands free integration “is a step in the right direction”. Maybe one day, Alexa can tell us when the car needs an oil change and even book an appointment for you at the dealership.