by

Laurie Sullivan @lauriesullivan, (January 10, 2018)

Google announced this week at CES that its voice Search in cars will be replaced with its technology known as Assistant. The company says Assistant will work with Android Auto.

The new features through Google Assistant for automotive will support the ability to control home lights from within the car, as well as music services such as Spotify and Google Play and the ability to remember music preferences.

Android Auto is available in

more than 400 car models from more than 40 brands, including Ford, General Motors, Nissan, Volkswagen and Volvo. It can provide quick directions from Google Maps or Waze, and can send or receive messages from services like WhatsApp. Soon users will have an option to reserve a parking space with SpotHero or order favorite drink or food from Starbucks from the road.

Google Assistant also is coming to new voice-activated speakers from Altec Lansing, Anker Innovations, Bang & Olufsen, Braven, iHome, JBL, Jensen, LG, Klipsch, Knit Audio, Memorex, RIVA Audio, and SLIS.

Research from Adobe Digital Insights estimates the sale of voice assistants like Amazon Echo and Google Home and other devices rose 103% year-over-year between the fourth quarter of 2016 and the fourth quarter of 2017. Sales peaked between October and December of last year, which makes sense because of the holidays.

The findings suggest that 54% of those who own a voice assistant use it at least once a day and 81% report using it once weekly. Only 16% feel uncomfortable using voice commands in front of others. Some 61% of those participating in the survey say the most popular use for voice devices remains music.

ADI’s analysis is based on aggregated and anonymized consumer data from more than 55 billion visits to more than 250 retailers in the United States. Also part of the research is a survey of more than 1,000 U.S. consumers.

Checking the weather follows with 60%, asking fun questions at 54%, general research at 53%, asking for directions at 39%; setting alarms and reminders at 39%, shopping at 22%.

MediaPost.com: Search Marketing Daily

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