Ford and Lincoln owners whose vehicles have hands-free access to Alexa don’t have to stick to using standard voice commands if they don’t want to. The automaker has rolled out enhanced Car Control capabilities and with it the ability to learn Alexa commands that reflect their natural way of speaking. For example, they can program “Alexa, I’m cold” and then teach the voice assistant to respond by asking what action to take, such as “I can raise the temperature by 5 degrees or turn off the air conditioning. What should I do?”
Another example of a personalized phrase would be, “Alexa, turn the AC on full blast.” The assistant can then ask the owner what they mean by “full”. Training Alexa to respond to personalized phrases is made possible by the assistant’s learnable AI technology. All vehicles with built-in Alexa will have access to enhanced Car Control as it becomes available to them.
Currently, the models with access to the hands-free experience are the 2022 F-150, Bronco, Mustang Mach-E, Edge, the New Expedition, Lincoln Nautilus, and the revised 2022 Lincoln Navigator. The highly anticipated 2022 F-150 Lightning will also coming up with the capability when it launches. Ford debuted the hands-free Alexa capability for its vehicles last year, marking the beginning of its six-year partnership with Amazon. As part of that partnership, it will be giving its customers free access to Alexa for up to three years, beginning on the start date of the new vehicle’s warranty.