Amazon begins shipping Echo Auto pre-orders

Amazon’s Echo line is starting to show up in cars. TechCrunch reported that the Echo Auto, announced in September, began shipping pre-orders in December. Even on an invite-only basis, Alexa Vice President Steve Rabuchin said that the company received more than 1 million pre-order requests for the platform. He did not share when the Echo Auto would exit the limited invite-only status or why the pre-orders took several months to start shipping.

In addition to the debut of the Echo Auto, Amazon announced several other smart devices for the product line. It also has more options for bringing its Alexa voice assistant behind the wheel. The company launched the Alexa Auto Software Development Kit in August. This kit will let developers make simple integrations of Alexa into third-party connected car infotainment systems.

Anna Washenko