Garmin International Inc. announced it has added a built-in dash cam to the Garmin Speak Plus with Amazon Alexa.
The in-vehicle device is enabled with Amazon’s cloud-based Alexa voice service for hands-free access to music, news briefings, sports scores, exclusive GPS navigation from Garmin and much more. The addition of the dash cam will give drivers an increased awareness of the road, Garmin says.
“The Garmin Speak Plus is an easy way to bring Amazon Alexa’s popular functionality to your car,” said Dan Bartel, Garmin vice president of global consumer sales. “Just as Amazon continues to enhance Alexa’s voice service with exciting new skills, Garmin creatively merges its world-renowned GPS navigation and camera technology with the Speak Plus. The added dash cam is discreet yet provides invaluable peace of mind to drivers who want an extra set of eyes with them in case an incident occurs.”
The Garmin Speak Plus will automatically record and save files when an incident is detected and has advanced driver assistance alerts including forward collision and lane departure warnings. It also has “Go Alerts” to let drivers know when stopped traffic ahead begins to move. The compact device is an inch and a half in size and features an LED light ring – similar to the Amazon Echo – and a bright OLED display showing lane guidance arrows to lead drivers to their destination. The device attaches to a vehicle’s windshield with a magnetic mount.
“Alexa is always getting smarter and we’re excited to see Garmin continue to innovate on the in-car Alexa experience,” said Ned Curic, Amazon Alexa vice president of automotive. “Customers want to be able to access Alexa wherever they are, and that includes the car. Alexa will help customers do thousands of things in the car including navigation, music, shopping lists, accessing their favorite skills, and more.”
Drivers will not only be able to access Alexa but also Garmin for turn-by-turn directions with the phrase, “Alexa, ask Garmin…”
Garmin Speak Plus will be available to customers starting mid-February. For more information, visit garmin.com/speak.
