The new Garmin® Speak Plus with Amazon Alexa brings Amazon Alexa to a vehicle and adds a built-in dash cam
Garmin International, Inc., a unit of Garmin Ltd. (NASDAQ: GRMN), today
announced the Garmin Speak™ Plus with Amazon Alexa, adding a
built-in dash camera to its innovative Garmin Speak. The in-vehicle1
device is enabled with Amazon’s cloud-based Alexa voice service for
hands-free access to music, news briefings, sports scores, exclusive GPS
navigation from Garmin, and much more. With the addition of the newly
integrated dash cam,2 drivers can rest at ease with their own
personal eyewitness overseeing their daily drive. The Garmin Speak Plus
will automatically record and save files when an incident is detected,
and introduces advanced driver assistance features that include Forward
Collision and Lane Departure Warnings.3
“The Garmin Speak Plus is an easy way to bring Amazon Alexa’s popular
functionality to your car,” said Dan Bartel, Garmin vice president of
global consumer sales. “Just as Amazon continues to enhance Alexa’s
voice service with exciting new skills, Garmin creatively merges its
world-renowned GPS navigation and camera technology with the Speak Plus.
The added dash cam is discreet yet provides invaluable peace of mind to
drivers who want an extra set of eyes with them in case an incident
occurs.”
“Alexa is always getting smarter and we’re excited to see Garmin
continue to innovate on the in-car Alexa experience,” said Ned Curic,
Amazon Alexa vice president of automotive. “Customers want to be able to
access Alexa wherever they are, and that includes the car. Alexa will
help customers do thousands of things in the car including navigation,
music, shopping lists, accessing their favorite skills, and more.”
The new dash cam gives Garmin Speak Plus users increased awareness on
the road. It offers helpful alerts like Forward Collision Warnings that
lets drivers know if they’re too close to the vehicle ahead; Lane
Departure Warnings if the driver drifts off the road or into oncoming
traffic; and “Go Alerts” to notify drivers when stopped traffic ahead
begins to move. At just an inch and a half in size, the compact Garmin
Speak Plus features a familiar LED light ring – reminiscent of the
Amazon Echo – and a bright OLED display showing lane guidance arrows to
guide drivers to their destination, and unobtrusively secures to a
vehicle’s windshield with a magnetic mount for easy stow and go.
Like its predecessor, drivers can ask Alexa to play songs from several
free- and subscription-based music services, including Amazon music,
Pandora® and Sirius XM®. With the purchase of a
Garmin Speak or Garmin Speak Plus device, new subscribers can enjoy a
two-month subscription to the Amazon Music Unlimited Family Plan.4
Popular services, such as Spotify®, are expected to be
included as additional streaming services become available. In addition,
drivers can activate Garmin turn-by-turn directions to shops,
restaurants, and more with the simple phrase, “Alexa, ask Garmin…”.
Garmin Speak Plus turns words into action so drivers can keep their
hands on the wheel and still accomplish tasks like creating shopping and
to-do lists, monitor traffic updates and weather, and control smart home
devices5 while traveling on the road.
Garmin Speak Plus works in conjunction with the Garmin Speak app and a
Bluetooth®-enabled smartphone with a suitable cellular data
connection. Drivers can then use Bluetooth® or an AUX cable
(not included) to hear audio through their vehicle’s speakers – accept
or ignore incoming calls, hear a favorite tune, and more. The
vehicle-dedicated device does not rely on a Wi-Fi® hotspot to
function. Amazon Alexa lives in the cloud and will continue getting
smarter as it automatically delivers new capabilities to the Garmin
Speak Plus. The more customers use Alexa, the more Alexa adapts to
speech patterns, vocabulary, and preferences with new features
continually being added. Alexa skills promote new capabilities that
allow Garmin Speak Plus users to develop a more personalized experience
with Alexa. What’s more, automatic software and mapping updates are
regularly sent to the Garmin Speak Plus to keep the device up-to-date.
With a suggested retail price of $229.99, Garmin Speak Plus will be
available to customers starting mid-February through Garmin, Best Buy,
Amazon and other retailers. A special limited time pre-order price of
$199.99 will be available from Jan. 8 to Feb. 10. For more information,
visit garmin.com/speak.
Garmin Speak Plus with Amazon Alexa is the latest from the consumer
automotive segment of Garmin, the leading worldwide provider of portable
navigation devices for automobiles, motorcycles and trucks. The
company’s user-friendly navigation solutions have innovative features
that provide time- and fuel-saving benefits to meet the demands of
everyday driving.
For decades, Garmin has pioneered new GPS navigation, advancements with
camera solutions, wireless devices and applications that are designed
for people who live an active lifestyle. Garmin serves five primary
business units, including automotive, aviation, fitness, marine, and
outdoor recreation. For more information, visit Garmin’s virtual
pressroom at garmin.com/newsroom,
contact the Media Relations department at 913-397-8200, or follow us at facebook.com/garmin,
twitter.com/garmin,
or youtube.com/garmin.
1Drivers should focus on driving and only use the device when
safe to do so.
2Some jurisdictions regulate or prohibit the use of a dash
cam device. It is your responsibility to know and comply with applicable
laws and rights to privacy in jurisdictions where you plan to use this
device.
3Certain conditions may impair the warning function. Visit
Garmin.com/warnings for details.
4Offer ends April 20, 2018
5To control smart home devices you must have or create an
Alexa smart home skill that works with your smart home products.
About Garmin International Inc.:
Garmin International Inc. is a subsidiary of Garmin Ltd. (Nasdaq: GRMN).
Garmin Ltd. is incorporated in Switzerland, and its principal
subsidiaries are located in the United States, Taiwan and the United
Kingdom. Garmin is a registered trademark and Garmin Speak and the
Garmin Speak app are trademarks of Garmin Ltd. or its subsidiaries.
Amazon, Alexa,and all related logos and motion marks are
trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates. The Pandora logos are
trademarks of Pandora Media, Inc. Pandora is only available in certain
countries. Please visit http://www.pandora.com/legal.
The Bluetooth® word mark and logos are registered trademarks owned by
the Bluetooth SIG, Inc. and any use of such marks by Garmin is under
license. All rights reserved.
All other brands, product names, company names, trademarks and service
marks are the properties of their respective owners. All rights reserved.
Notice on Forward-Looking Statements:
This release includes forward-looking statements regarding Garmin Ltd.
and its business. Such statements are based on management’s current
expectations. The forward-looking events and circumstances discussed in
this release may not occur and actual results could differ materially as
a result of known and unknown risk factors and uncertainties affecting
Garmin, including, but not limited to, the risk factors listed in the
Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2016, filed
by Garmin with the Securities and Exchange Commission (Commission file
number 0-31983). A copy of such Form 10-K is available at http://www.garmin.com/aboutGarmin/invRelations/finReports.html.
No forward-looking statement can be guaranteed. Forward-looking
statements speak only as of the date on which they are made and Garmin
undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any
forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information,
future events, or otherwise.
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