Amazon cooperates with HERE to integrate Alexa and HERE navigation and positioning services

[Erica Zhu Feilong Jiangli]

HERE Technologies announced a new partnership with Amazon, which will integrate Amazon Alexa and HERE navigation and location services. With Amazon Alexa's voice-first interaction combined with HERE's leading on-board navigation solutions, car manufacturers can easily provide intuitive voice-first experience for both internal and external users.

Alexa will first be integrated into HERE's new one-stop solution Navigation On-Demand program, which enables automobile manufacturers to achieve a fully functional new navigation experience in their vehicles. With Alexa Auto tools and application interface (API), HERE creates a real voice-first automotive navigation experience that allows users to focus on the road while Alexa also provides personalized guidance when and where drivers need it most.

HERE will also provide information on its location service platform and Alexa service, allowing users to search and locate points of interest, access real-time traffic information, and seamlessly plan routes inside and outside the car. For example, users can ask Alxa at home to set a reminder to buy bread at the grocery store after work. At the end of the day, the navigation system will find the best way to go to the grocery store after work based on real-time traffic information and user reminders, and remind the user to buy bread when the vehicle approaches the store.

Amazon will use HERE's high-quality positioning service to enhance Alexa's positioning awareness and provide context and insights for important location data to help users estimate the time to work or to the nearest cafe. In the future, Amazon and HERE will also explore opportunities to provide additional features to automakers and their customers. For example, by integrating services created in HERE Open Location Platform (OLP) Alexa, Alexa can answer questions in a more conversational manner.

At present, enterprise users use HERE's OLP platform to enrich, access their data, and contribute to the next generation of positioning services. HERE's OLP platform has acquired real-time vehicle sensor data from many automobile brands, and then converted the data from HERE into real-time world and safety information, such as traction loss or early hard braking, and transmitted to the embedded navigation system and advanced driver assistance system (ADAS) of the automobile.