Amazon Alexa Rolls Out to Pivi Pro System

If you have a Land Rover made in the past few years with the Pivi Pro infotainment system, you now have a new feature: Amazon Alexa integration, which is rolling out now via an over-the-air update.

The Alexa update adds a new layer of voice command to the Pivi Pro setup. While the original setup was tied into Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, tying into those two platforms’ voice command systems, this new layer also connects to any Alexa-managed smart home devices, so you can turn on your lights on the way home with a few words. The setup doesn’t even require you to connect a phone – it all works via the built-in data connection in Pivi Pro’s dual-SIM setup.

There’s even a new Alexa skill for JLR vehicle owners. In addition to being able to control your home from your car, you can also go the other way, and use your Alexa speakers in your home to do some things with your car. You can lock and unlock the doors, turn on the climate control, and if you have an EV vehicle (or, presumably, a plug-in hybrid), you can check on how much charge and range you have left.

One thing you can do with Alexa is set a “welcome me home” procedure, which can set the temperature on your smart thermostat, open the garage door, and turn on the light. In many ways, this is just the latest and most modern version of various systems that Land Rover has integrated into their vehicles since the 1990s, when they sold an accessory kit for the HomeLink garage door opener that could control lights and gates with a press of the button on your Discovery 2 or Range Rover P38.

While it seems that Alexa will be installed on all Pivi Pro-equipped Land Rovers by default, what is unclear as of now, is how it exists in the background, or can be disabled, for those who are skeptical of integrating Amazon’s technical nodes into their car.