LAS VEGAS: The smart assistant Alexa is set to be loaded onto millions of future cars according to a deal Amazon has secured with car giant Stellantis.
The automototive group, best known for brands like Peugeot, Chrysler, Fiat and Opel, wants to embed Amazon's voice assistant Alexa in its future digital cockpits, the two companies announced at the tech trade fair CES here.
For the world's largest online retailer, it's a major success in the race against Google to control voice assistants in cars.
With this deal, however, Amazon is also securing more business for its cloud services division AWS, which Stellantis vehicles are to rely on.
The car company had already sought support for the development of its digital cockpit from Chinese contract manufacturer Foxconn, which is best known as a manufacturer of Apple devices.
The cooperation with Amazon is to build on this partnership.
In another agreement, Amazon will be the first buyer of Stellantis' Ram ProMaster electric delivery trucks, which are due to hit the market in 2023.
Amazon plans to put "thousands" of the vehicles on the road in the US each year, it said.
The online retailer has so far relied primarily on US start-up Rivian to electrify its fleet.
Amazon announced it would buy around 100,000 electricity-powered Rivian delivery trucks over the years and also took a stake of around 20 per cent in the company.
The deal with Amazon also shows how many alliances are being forged between car manufacturers and tech companies right now, without regard for possible rivalries.
Stellantis, for example, is already working with Google's sister company Waymo on robotaxi development, while Amazon has its own developer of autonomous driving technology in house with the acquisition of the start-up Zoox.
