Echo Auto: Amazon releases Alexa device that goes in your car

Amazon has revealed a special echo that follows you around in the car.

The Echo Auto sits on your dashboard and does all the things that any other Alexa-enabled device does: you can ask for music, directions or trigger smart home capabilities. But it does that from inside your car, by plugging into the entertainment system.

Amazon said it had introduced the feature to allow people to have voice control in their car no matter how new their vehicle is. Many car manufacturers are adding Alexa to their in-car entertainment system – but since the technology is new, there's no way of adding it to older cars.

It is the first time that an Echo device – which for the most part are smart speakers intended for your home – has been made to regularly leave the house. That has meant redesigning the Alexa experience, including allowing it to know where you are at any given time so that it can provide location-aware suggestions.

The company said that the array of microphones had to be redeveloped because listening in the car is so complicated. It has to get rid of noise from the car and the road, for instance, and so the system had to be re-engineered.

The Echo Auto will be released to people that are part of Amazon's invite programme later this year, with the hope they will improve it before it is released to the general public. It will cost $49.99 when it is full price, but $24.99 for those that are part of the invite programme.

It was revealed alongside 70 new updates at Amazon's biggest event of the year. As well as the Alexa device for the car, it also revealed a smart microwave and clock, as well as a range of new Echo speakers.