The voice assistant of the 2026 BMW iX3 will be powered by Alexa +

BMW is finally getting the Alexa voice assistant and it’s coming with an AI upgrade.

Amazon said Monday that the 2026 BMW iX3 will feature Alexa+, the same AI technology that powered millions of the e-commerce giant’s smart devices last year. This will be the first car to come with a voice assistant of the next generation of Amazon, the company announced at the 2026 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

The launch is part of Amazon’s efforts to bring its LLM-developed voice and digital assistant to every device — whether handheld or in the driver’s seat — that consumers touch. Alexa+ is already on over 600 million devices. And cars are next on the list.

Bringing the Alexa + version into the BMW iX3 will be an important test for Amazon. Car manufacturers have struggled for years to bring a voice assistant inside cars that can handle complex tasks and requests that don’t end with the driver screaming in frustration. Efforts to develop natural language — a form of AI that allows computers to understand and respond to human speech — have been in the works for more than a decade. And despite the progress, these systems can still be easily disrupted by people.

BMW’s partnership with Amazon for Alexa+ has been three years in the making.

BMW announced in 2022 that Amazon Alexa will be its main feature next generation voice assistant. This means that BMW will not save Alexa in its cars, but they use Amazon’s technology platform known as Alexa Custom Assistant to create their brand. This time was extended when Amazon used the car version of Alexa +, a modified voice assistant developed and operated by major language brands that promises to provide a seamless and natural conversation, like talking to a person.

Alexa+ was built using Amazon Bedrock, a service that allows AWS customers to develop applications using AI models from Amazon and other partners. Customers, like BMW, can update the app with their data.

The result, according to Amazon, is a voice assistant that can solve complex requests, think through the rules, and take action in various situations. For example, Amazon says that users can start a conversation with the Echo +-enabled speaker at home and continue in their BMW. When you are in the car, the user can request through Alexa + the assistant who often needs to open various programs, such as music, navigation, and home security.