Amazon to develop infotainment system with Opel parent company Stellantis
Amazon and car manufacturer Stellantis will collaborate to develop software for the infotainment system in the manufacturer’s cars from 2024. That software will receive support for Alexa. In addition, Stellantis will supply electric delivery vans to Amazon.
From 2024, the infotainment systems of car brands from Stellantis will be equipped with dashboard software that the companies will develop together, the manufacturer announced at CES. This software uses Alexa for voice control, navigation, car maintenance, e-commerce and payments. Stellantis is the parent company of, among others, Jeep, Chrysler and Dodge, but also of Fiat, Citroën, Opel and Peugeot.
Currently, cars from the manufacturer are still equipped with Android. Stellantis CSO Yves Bonnefont told Reuters that the use of Android for cars will “evolve” in the near future. The software package that the two will develop together is called STLA SmartCockpit, and uses artificial intelligence apps for entertainment and navigation, among other things. Stellantis announced SmartCockpit in December.
STLA SmartCockpit will use Amazon products and apps, and will have its own app store. What the infotainment system will do differs per car brand, but it must learn from the behavior and interests of users. In Chrysler Pacifica cars, for example, it can provide suggestions for media, places of interest, restaurants and shops along a route during the drive, and Jeep gets a digital ‘off-road coach’ that helps with driving on inhospitable terrain.
The infotainment system will also be integrated with Amazon’s smart home systems, so that users can monitor their home on the go, and so that they can adjust certain things in their car from home via Alexa. For example, they can set the temperature from home, so that a driver does not get into a cold car, and users can schedule a maintenance appointment from home.
Stellantis will use Amazon Web Services as its cloud provider for its fleet of vehicles. In addition to the infotainment system using AWS, the two also want to collaborate on developing autonomous driving using AWS. In addition, Stellantis is transitioning its entire automotive data pipeline to an AWS-based data mesh network. Finally, Amazon will start using Stellaantis electric vans, the Ram ProMaster-BEV, in the US from 2023.
Chrysler Airflow concept car. This infotainment system would run on STLA SmartCockpit in the future. (Image: Stellantis)