FCA first automaker to integrate new Amazon Alexa Custom Assistant

Amazon is providing automakers access to its new Alexa Custom Assistant software that allows them to tailor-build unique in-vehicle voice assistants.

The new software allows manufacturers to use the Alexa technology to create their own in-car assistants with customized wake words, voices and capabilities.

Using the Alexa voice assistant as a base from which to build their own assistants will allow automakers to tailor features specific to brands, Amazon said Friday. The custom assistant also allows automakers to provide capabilities individual to their brands that coexist with Alexa.

The custom assistant gives automakers "access to the same voice technology that powers Alexa, as well as Alexa's ongoing improvements in AI, privacy and security, and new capabilities that are delivered to the vehicle automatically," Amazon said.

Fiat Chrysler will be the first automaker to integrate the custom assistant in cars and light trucks. The company has not announced when or in which models it will integrate the intelligent assistant.

"Alexa will still provide the same experience customers already know and love, while the brand's assistant will provide unique capabilities specific to a company's product or services," Amazon said in a statement. "The solution enables the brand's assistant and Alexa to seamlessly exist side-by-side and intuitively cooperate so customers can use either the brand's assistant or Alexa to fulfill requests."

Automakers have struggled to create intuitive in-vehicle assistants that are as seamless as some at-home assistants that are ubiquitous in many households.

Amazon said it will continue to expand access to Alexa through embedding its traditional Alexa Auto SDK in addition to offering the custom assistant.