The big American car manufacturers are well represented in the connected car category. Interestingly, several of these skills are from the same company (the myWhatever skills), so these developers have a lot to learn from their reviews. If there is a problem in the myGMC skill, it’s likely that other user have the same problem in the myChevrolet skill.
Something I’ve noticed, people aren’t comfortable with saying their vehicle’s PIN out loud (makes sense). They also want to be able to automate car functionality in a morning routine. If a user always warms up their car in the morning when it’s cold out, they would like to be able to automate that. It’s a small way these skill can make peoples’ lives easier.
It will be interesting to see European and Asian car manufacturers enter this space. I hope they will study what works and doesn’t from these incombent skills in their development process.
FordPass by Ford Motor Company – 4.3 out of 5, 717 ratings, 95 reviews
Keep connected to your Ford SYNC Connect vehicle with the FordPass Alexa skill.
Random review: I’ve been asking Ford this question for over a year now. Now, more than ever, it seems more important. If you ask Alexa to lock or unlock your vehicle, how do you know it did it? They need to enable 2 way communication on the status page of FordPass to let you know the status of your door locks. How simple? Light up the button of the lock status, lock or unlocked. Simple. Why can’t they do this? (2 out of 5)
Lexus by Toyota Motors North America, Inc. – 4.5 out of 5, 645 ratings, 42 reviews
From the convenience of your smartphone or the comfort of your home, you can ask Alexa to start or stop the engine, lock/unlock the doors, check fuel level, and check your vehicle’s odometer.
Random review: This is a pretty slick skill. Only thing to note is you have to get the verbiage correct for it to work seamlessly. Saying “Alexa ask Lexus to…” does the trick.
I actually find that starting the car with Alexa is much quicker than using the app itself (which speaks volumes about how terrible the Lexus app is). I noticed several reviews about not getting a confirmation of start. Here’s a trick for getting them. Enable confirmed start notifications in the Lexus app. Then when Alexa successfully starts your vehicle, you’ll get a notification on your phone confirming the start. (5 out of 5)
myGMC by General Motors – 4.4 out of 5, 577 ratings, 44 reviews
The myGMC skill is the best way to remotely connect to your GMC vehicle using only your voice.
Random review: It would be really nice if we could add it to routines like Alexa off to work and your lights turn off, Arlo cameras go active, and my truck starts to warm up. (3 out of 5)
myChevrolet by General Motors – 4.4 out of 5, 2 ratings, 110 reviews
The myChevrolet skill is the best way to remotely connect to your Chevrolet vehicle using only your voice.
Random review: In my opinion the whole point of automation, like Alexa skills, is the convenience of it.Making the minutiae simple and easy.I actually expected“Alexa, Start my truck” to work “out of the box”.Much to my surprise, it doesn’t.Not only is my truck required to be called a car, but instead I must engage in a conversation with Alexa to start my truck.Alexa, ask myChevrolet to start my car. Alexa replies okay, start you car, what is your pin? And I must give her a PIN number to start my truck.All of that or I could click the button on my remote?Can I put it into a routine, so that it starts my truck when I start my morning?Nope. I feel like either I or whoever wrote this skill is totally missing the point. (2 out of 5)
myCadillac by General Motors – 4.5 out of 5, 262 ratings, 22 reviews
The myCadillac skill is the best way to remotely connect to your Cadillac vehicle using only your voice.
Random review: Yes, it’s great to be able to start my car via voice – however, having to say my PIN in front of a roomful of people is just stupid. (2 out of 5)
Genesis by Genesis Motors USA – 4.4 out of 5, 161 ratings, 43 reviews
The Genesis Skill allows Genesis owners the ability to Remote Start, set the desired interior cabin temperature, Remote Lock/Unlock, and more using Alexa.
Random review: Alexa does start and stop my G90 on command even though she states having troubling finding that skill.The indicator for success is when she ask for my pin before then saying she’s having trouble. Initially, once setup was complete she never asked for my pin before stating having trouble and therefore not successful. After a half hour or so she began asking for my pin followed by a statement of having trouble yet she starts the car. I suppose it took a short delay to update and link to the Genesis system to begin asking for my pin.I’m not sure why she states having trouble although the car starts successfully.Successful start is confirmed by a text notification from the Genesis app as usual. (4 out of 5)
Toyota by Toyota Motors North America, Inc. – 4 out of 5, 205 ratings, 39 reviews
From the convenience of your smartphone or the comfort of your home, you can ask Alexa to start or stop the engine, lock/unlock the doors, check fuel level, and check your vehicle’s odometer.
Random review: I’ve tried several times to link my entune account. Each time I get a white page with code script across the top that says internal error. (1 out of 5)
Jeep by FCA – 4.3 out of 5, 181 ratings, 25 reviews
From the comfort of your home, command your Jeep® brand vehicle using your voice.Just ask Alexa on an Alexa-enabled device to remotely lock/unlock your car doors, start/stop the engine, find out how much fuel you have left, and more.
Random review: I tried it. It wants a pin after I tell it what to do. Might as well just use the key fob for remote start. Not worth my time remembering another password. I’ll pass. (1 out of 5)
MyFord Mobile by Ford Motor Company – 4 out of 5, 89 ratings, 46 reviews
MyFord Mobile users with a Ford plug-in vehicle (C-Max Energi, Fusion Energi, and Focus Electric) can use the Alexa voice service to issue a range of remote commands and obtain vehicle information, such as battery state of charge and electric range.
Random review: First it was the keyfob, but not always in my pocket when I wanted to start my car or I wasn’t close enough to my vehicle for it to work. Next the mobile app works anywhere I and my vehicle has cell service but I actually had to pull my phone out of my pocket. Now I just speak a few words and I have a warm / cool car waiting for me.What an amazing world we live in.Thanks Ford… (5 out of 5)
myBuick by General Motors – 4.3 out of 5, 161 ratings, 12 reviews
The myBuick skill is the best way to remotely connect to your Buick vehicle using only your voice.
Random review: Works perfectly, as you’d expect. The only reason for not giving it 5 stars is that you are asked for your PIN before Alexa will send commands to the car. This is an important security feature but it slows down the experience to the point where I’d rather just find my key fob and start the car. But if you live in a condo or somewhere out of range of the key fob this app would be great. Still not faster than the iOS app which confirms your identity with the fingerprint ID which is faster than entering your PIN. (4 out of 5)
