Amazon?s wildly popular voice assistant, Alexa, is making her debut in several cars this year. But as seductive and convenient as many consumers have found her in the living room, Alexa could open up a Pandora’s box of potential risks in the automotive realm.
Numerous automakers, including BMW, Hyundai, and Ford, and telematics firms, including Inrix, are rolling out Alexa skills. With just a few spoken commands, owners can check the fuel and charge levels of their cars from their Barcaloungers.
Hyundai started the trend last fall, announcing that it would connect cars to Alexa via the company’s Blue Link app, enabling owners to issue commands from home, such as ?Alexa, ask Blue Link to start my Santa Fe.?

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?Someone can’t just shout from outside to your Echo
and unlock your car.? ? Dave Hatton, Ford

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Since then, Ford has added to Alexa’s skill set. Owners of 2017 Fusion Energi sedans, for example, can use their Echo or Tap, which are both Alexa devices sold by Amazon, to trigger home-to-car features, said Dave Hatton, manager of mobile applications for connected vehicles at Ford. Without rising from their beanbag chairs, drivers can start or stop their cars, unlock or lock doors, and ask for information such as fuel levels and battery range.
And that’s just the beginning.
“We want to make it something much cooler than just stopping and starting your car,” explained Brian McGarvey, senior director of business development at I...