Talk to your TV, tell your car to warm up, then ask your coffee machine for a cortado. That was the shorthand moment Amazon, BMW and a clutch of partners painted at CES 2026: Alexa+ — Amazon’s next‑generation, large‑language-model powered assistant — is moving beyond speakers and into the devices people actually use every day.
A voice assistant that can actually hold a conversation
At the show, Amazon announced a string of integrations that underline the company’s push to make Alexa+ the connective tissue between home, car and personal health. Samsung will be the first third‑party manufacturer to ship Alexa+ built into its smart TVs, and Bosch plans to let you talk to select espresso machines to craft personalized drinks. Health partners such as Oura are in early access, promising sleep and recovery summaries people can discuss aloud with Alexa+ as they get ready or wind down.
Amazon says Alexa+ can break down complex requests, reason across steps and act across services — a capability it built on Amazon Bedrock and the Alexa Custom Assistant toolkit. That’s the same foundation BMW used to build a tailored in‑vehicle experience. Read Amazon’s post on the announcements here: Amazon on Alexa+ integrations.
The iX3: more than voice in a prettier cabin
BMW chose the iX3 to debut its AI‑powered BMW Intelligent Personal Assistant expanded with Alexa+. The automaker pitches a natural dialogue: you can ask multiple questions in a single sentence about the car and the wider world, or hand the assistant multi‑step tasks — think planning a route with stops, finding charging on the way, and queuing a playlist without toggling between apps.
BMW’s presentation at CES emphasized that this is not a simple Alexa embed: the brand is using Alexa Custom Assistant to craft a BMW‑centric persona and capabilities. The companies showed examples — “Hey BMW, I’m feeling a bit chilly, could you warm it up?” — where the assistant operates vehicle functions while also tapping into broader knowledge and services.
BMW’s press materials also make it clear the iX3 is intended to be a rolling showcase: alongside the voice tech, the car arrives with a 17.9‑inch central display, AirConsole gaming, Disney+ streaming when parked, and YouTube Music joining the ConnectedDrive store. BMW expects the Alexa+ integration to start rolling out in the second half of 2026 across models with its latest software. See BMW’s full CES release here: BMW press release on the iX3 and Alexa+.
Why automakers care (and why this is still hard)
Getting a voice assistant to behave naturally in cars has been a stubborn problem. Systems have improved — but context switching between navigation, media, vehicle controls and the internet requires robust language understanding and tightly integrated software stacks. BMW’s bet: using a vehicle‑specific assistant that runs on an LLM backbone will reduce those frustrating dead ends and allow richer, multi‑intent requests.
The move also tightens partnerships with mapping and location providers. Amazon highlighted integrations with HERE and TomTom for navigation functions in-car; that kind of mapping intelligence is becoming a central battleground, just as conversational navigation features from other players are rising (see how conversational copilot ideas are spreading to maps with Google’s work) — the industry is converging on voice as a primary interface for driving tasks. For a look at similar navigation developments, see Google Maps' Gemini copilot.
Not the only game in town
BMW and Amazon’s collaboration is part of a broader CES theme: legacy automakers partnering with big tech to fast‑track smart cabin features. Mercedes, for example, showcased infotainment that layers AI from other cloud providers. That competition matters — it shapes who holds the data, who controls updates, and how private or portable your in‑car experience will be.
Amazon also used CES to tee up agentic experiences (booking and transactions handled conversationally) with partners like Expedia, Yelp and Angi. That trend echoes other companies adding ‘book-for-me’ features to assistants; compare it with Google’s push into agentic booking tools in its AI Mode, which points to how assistants may soon complete services on users’ behalf rather than just surface information. For more on the agentic angle across platforms, see Google AI Mode’s bookings expansion.
Little touches that matter — and some caveats
BMW showed moody interior photos that underline the user experience goals: ambient lighting, large displays, game streaming and video calls while parked. The companion experience — continuing a conversation started at home on an Echo to the car and back — could be genuinely useful for people who move between devices frequently.
But there remain unanswered questions: how much processing is local vs. cloud; how will privacy and data sharing be managed between automaker and cloud provider; and who owns the personal profile that lets an assistant personalize suggestions across home and car? Automakers and cloud providers will need to be explicit for shoppers to trust these systems.
For drivers, the promise is practical: fewer menu dives, fewer app hops, and a voice that understands follow‑ups. For the industry, Alexa+ in a BMW iX3 is a marker of where voice AI is headed — woven into cars, TVs, appliances and wearables — and it’s just getting started.