Alibaba brings voice assistant to BMW vehicles in China

Alibaba AI Labs and BMW have announced a new collaboration in voice-activated mobile solutions at the Consumer Electronics Show 2019 (CES) in the US. Tmall Genie, the voice assistant developed by Alibaba AI Labs, will be available in-car to BMW customers in China by end-2019.

BMW will become the first premium carmaker to launch Tmall Genie to market into selected BMW models. This move by the BMW Group follows the integration of the BMW Connected mobile app into Alibaba’s Chinese ecosystem. It allows BMW customers with a Tmall Genie-compatible device at home to easily and conveniently access their digital lives. BMW Connected was launched in China in December 2016 and is currently used by 1.5 million customers.

BMW customers in China can use Tmall Genie to access Alibaba’s ecosystem through voice commands, for example to ask about the latest movie listings, listen to a playlist or check the weather at their destination. Customers will enjoy the benefits of hundreds of Tmall Genie “skills”. Tmall Genie also displays text and images on the BMW display screen.

Miffy Chen, VP of Alibaba Group, Head of Alibaba AI Labs, said: “We launched the AI+Car solution last year aiming at providing more intelligent and connected experience for Chinese car users through Tmall Genie’s AI-powered voice interaction and service capabilities for cars. Among our collaboration with premium automakers, we are very glad that BMW will be the first premium auto brand to bring selected car models that fully integrate Tmall Genie to the China market. We look forward to working together with BMW to create a personalised mobility experience for its car customers in China.”

“With the integration of Alibaba’s Tmall Genie in BMW vehicles in China we are adding a digital ecosystem, which will open up new possibilities that customers can access quickly and safely from the car. This development sees BMW reaching a new milestone in China in terms of intelligent connectivity between the customer’s vehicle and their digital touchpoints,” says Dieter May, Senior VP Digital Services and Products at the BMW Group.

Alibaba AI Labs launched the auto artificial intelligence (AI) solution AI + Car last year. The solution allows connected cars in China to link up with Tmall Genie through the cloud, enabling vehicle users to talk anytime to their smart speaker at home, and monitor their cars’ status or direct selected vehicle operations like locking the car doors, planning a route and calculating journey time.

Tmall Genie is the most popular smart speaker in China, with over 5 million units sold since its launch in 2017. It ranks No. 3 in total shipments in the global smart-speaker market.