HERE Technologies today announced a new collaboration with Amazon that will see the two companies integrate Amazon Alexa and HERE navigation and location services. The combination of the voice-first interactions through Alexa with a leading in car navigation solution makes it easy for automakers to deliver an intuitive, voice-first experience for users inside and outside the car.

 

Alexa will come pre-integrated within HERE Navigation On-Demand, the new one-stop solution for automakers to enable compelling, full-featured and always-fresh navigation experiences in their vehicles.

 

Leveraging the Alexa Auto tools and APIs, HERE has built a true voice-first car navigation experience that keeps users focused on the road while enabling Alexa to deliver personalized guidance when and where it's needed most. 

 

"The in-vehicle user experience is rapidly changing, and automakers today have the opportunity to deliver the next generation of services that maximize the vehicle's utility as the ultimate connected device and providing consumers with the user experience they expect," said Edzard Overbeek, CEO of HERE Technologies. "Our work with Amazon will drive a truly differentiated and delightful user experience, from the home to the car, to where you want to go, and what you need to know."

 

HERE will also provide information from its location services platform to the Alexa service, allowing users to search and locate points of interest, access live traffic information, and conduct seamless route planning in and outside of the car. For exampe, users can ask Alexa inside their home to set a reminder to pick up bread at the grocery store after work. At the end of the day, the in-vehicle navigation system finds the optimal route to the store after work based on real-time traffic information and reminds users to pick up bread as the vehicle approaches the store location. 

 

"We're thrilled to be working with HERE to integrate Alexa with its in-vehicle navigation software," added Ned Curic, VP of Alexa Auto at Amazon. "Because Alexa is integrated directly into the experience, automakers using HERE Navigation On-Demand can easily provide customers with an intuitive, voice-first experience in the car, and provide richer, more useful voice interactions at home and on the go."

 

Amazon utilizes high-quality location services from HERE to power Alexa's location awareness, providing important location data with context and insights to help users estimate time to work or the nearest cafe.

 

Moving forward, Amazon and HERE will also explore opportunities to provide additional functionality to automakers and their customers. By integrating Alexa Auto with services created on the HERE Open Location Platform (OLP), for example, Alexa would be able to answer questions in a more conversational, contextual manner. A driver could ask, "Alexa, where do I turn?" and Alexa would respond with, "turn directly after the [designated building]."  

 

The HERE OLP is utilized today by enterprise customers to enrich their data with the value of location context, and access and contribute to the next generation of location-based services. HERE OLP already ingests live car sensor data pooled from multiple car brands, which is transformed by HERE into real-time incident and safety information such as traction loss or hard braking ahead delivered to the vehicle's embedded navigation system and Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS). 

 

HERE Navigation Services have been embedded in more than 100 million vehicles globally. The company's investors include Audi, BMW, Daimler, Intel, Bosch, Continental and Pioneer.