Amazon makes Alexa Custom Assistant available in India

 Amazon on Thursday announced Alexa Custom Assistant, a new solution that lets device makers and service providers create intelligent assistants tailored to their brand personality and customer needs.

With the new solution, automakers in India will easily be able to build their own intelligent assistants.

The Alexa Custom Assistant is available globally, including India, starting Thursday, Amazon said in a blog post.

The Alexa Custom Assistant is built directly on Alexa technology, providing companies access to world-class, always-improving voice AI technology, customised with a unique wake word, voice, skills, and capabilities.

"The brand's assistant also seamlessly coexists and cooperates with Alexa, providing customers the benefits of an intelligent assistant that is their product and services expert, while Alexa provides the familiar experiences they already know and love," Amazon said.

"The Alexa Custom Assistant reduces the cost and complexity of building intelligent assistants into automobiles, consumer electronics, mobile applications, smart properties, video games, and a variety of other digital experiences," it added.

Global automaker Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) is the first Alexa Custom Assistant customer and has already begun the planning process for the development of an FCA-branded intelligent assistant for integration in select vehicle models.

The company's work builds on existing Alexa integrations in its vehicles around the world.

"Voice Assistants have become a critical piece of the in-vehicle customer experience, and automotive manufacturers are increasingly looking for opportunities to differentiate using this channel," Matt Arcaro, Senior Industry Analyst, Digital Automotive and Transportation Strategies, IDC, said in a statement.

"However, many manufacturers struggle to balance the investments needed to develop, deliver, and maintain a best-in-class voice experience for their vehicles.

"This has opened the door for a near-ubiquitous voice assistant to invest in productizing their technology, capabilities, and reach so that manufacturers can leverage this foundation to build a full-featured, yet, customizable voice assistant," Arcaro said.