If you thought Amazon’s Alexa wasn’t already present on enough gadgets, Garmin has news for you today. At the ongoing Consumer Electronics Show, the company has introduced a new dash cam that comes integrated with Amazon’s voice assistant. Called the “Speak Plus”, the snazzy-looking dash cam lets you execute all sorts of commands by invoking Alexa and features the usual trappings you’d expect from a car accessory like this.
The Garmin Speak Plus pairs with your smartphone over Bluetooth for fetching data online. The voice assistant supports most of the primary skills including turn-by-turn directions, music playback and more. Being a dash cam first, the Speak Plus also rocks a camera sensor through which it records incidents, warn you if you’re too close to a car, and even send an alert if you’re drifting out of your current lane. In addition to that, it can let you know when the gridlocked traffic has begun to move.
There’s a circular OLED screen and a blue LED ring that lights up when you talk to it. For playing music through your car’s audio system, the Speak Plus can connect using either Bluetooth or an AUX cable. Unfortunately, it’s not yet compatible with Spotify which could be a deal breaker for many. Right now, the Speak Plus is limited to Amazon Music, Pandora, Sirius XM, and a few other streaming services. The Garmin Speak Plus is priced at $230 and will start shipping on January 22nd. Although you’ll be eligible for a $30 discount if you pre-order it.