HERE, Amazon announce navigation collaboration

HERE Technologies has announced a new collaboration with Amazon. The companies will 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 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. 

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 example, 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.

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.

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 .” 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.

HERE/AMAZON HIGHLIGHTS:

* Combination of voice-first interactions and leading in-car navigation services.
* Voice-first user interface delivers natural, intuitive guidance to drivers.
* Automakers shorten development timeline with HERE + Alexa Auto pre-integration.