The document discusses Alexa's integration with connected cars. It provides examples of Alexa skills for Hyundai and Ford cars that allow remote control of vehicle functions and integration with smart home devices. It then describes how to build an Alexa skill using the Mojio API to access vehicle data and report road incidents. The document also covers the state of artificial intelligence, the future of connected cars, and privacy concerns regarding voice assistants in vehicles.

1. Alexa and
the Connected Car
Emily Lam
Alexa Conference Jan. 19-21, 2017

2. Emily Lam
• Studied Linguistics and
specialized in Computing at
UCLA
• Front-end Developer at
Lieberman Software
• Won the Worldpay prize at
Money 20/20
• 2nd place at Connected Car
hackathon

3. Agenda
 What is a Connected Car?
 Hyundai & Ford Alexa Skill
 Automobility LA & CES 2017
 Create an Alexa skill using the
Mojio API
 RoadBuddy
 Troubleshooting bugs
 Voice user interface
 The state of Artificial
Intelligence
 Future of the connected car
 Privacy

4. What is a Connected Car?
A car that uses technology to gather information, analyze
data, and perform tasks.

6. What data can you get?
 Speed
 Car’s GPS location
 Motion alerts
 Geofencing
 Recent trip history

8. So how does Alexa work with
a connected car?

9. Hyundai Blue Link Skill
Alexa is embedded in the car itself and can do anything an Echo can.

10. What can Alexa do?
Features:
 Remote start and stop charging electric models
 Remote engine start with climate control
 Remote door lock/unlock
 Remote horn/lights

11. Ford SYNC 3
The Ford SYNC 3 has an Alexa skill called “myFord Mobile”.

12. Alexa is located under Apps > Alexa.

13. The Ford Skill bridges the gap between your home and car.

14. Utterances
Alexa,
 ask myFord to check my battery status.
 ask myFord to start my car.
 ask myFord to lock my car.
 turn on living room lights.
 set home thermostat to 72 degrees.
 turn on garage lights.

16. The key takeaway is that you are able
to stay connected to your car when
you’re at home, and you’re able to
stay connected to your home when
you’re in your car.

17. So now let’s build our own
skill for the connected car.

18. Mojio API

19. Mojio Platform
Mojio collects data from the OBD-II port and sends it to the Mojio server.

20. RoadBuddy
 RoadBuddy is a connected car platform that delivers
automated real-time road conditions.

21. For the Alexa skill, you can also
report incidents and get road
conditions.

22. RoadBuddy Intent Schema
"intents": [
{
"intent": "GetReportIntent",
"slots": [
{
"name": "Incident",
"type": "LIST_OF_INCIDENTS"
}]
},

23. {
"intent": "GetRoadConditionsIntent",
"slots": [
{
"name": "Incident",
"type": "LIST_OF_INCIDENTS"
}]
},

25. Sample Utterances
 GetReportIntent report an {Incident}
 GetReportIntent report a {Incident}
 GetReportIntent report that {Incident}
 GetReportIntent report that there's {Incident}
 GetReportIntent there's {Incident}
 GetReportIntent {Incident}
 GetRoadConditionsIntent what are road conditions like
 GetRoadConditionsIntent what are road conditions up ahead
 GetRoadConditionsIntent road conditions
 GetRoadConditionsIntent tell me road conditions

26. Account Linking
Authorization URL
 The url where customers will be redirected in the
companion app to enter login credentials.
 Ex.
https://accounts.moj.io/oauth2/authorize?response_ty
pe=code
Client Id
 Unique public string used to identify the client
requesting for authentication.

28. Domain List (Optional)
 The list of domains that the authorization URL will fetch
content from. You can provide up to 15 domains.
Scope (Optional)
 List of permissions to request from the skill user. You
can provide up to 15 scopes.

29. Redirect URLs (Optional)
 The list of valid HTTPS redirection endpoints that could
be requested during authorization to redirect the user
back to after the authorization process.

30. Authorization Grant Type (Optional)
 Specifies the OAuth authorization grant that Alexa uses
to obtain an access token from Mojio.
Access Token URI
 This URI will be used for both access token and token
refresh requests.
 Ex. https://accounts.moj.io/oauth2/token

31. Client Secret
 Given by Mojio

32. Client Authentication Scheme
 HTTP Basic or Credentials in request body
Privacy Policy URL
 https://www.moj.io/privacy/

35. Configure a Mojio object with the following key/value pairs.

36. Call the function before you register the handlers.

38.  Create a variable outside of the handlers object and set
it equal to this to avoid getting a null error.
 Use mojio_client to get data.

39.  Use self.emit for Alexa to say something.
• Get data from lambda request.

40. State of Artificial Intelligence
 Artificial intelligence was coined by John McCarthy in
1956.
 Defining Artificial Intelligence
 The ability to learn and solve problems
 Think like a human (How a brain functions, cognitive science)
 Act like a human (Turing test)
 Think rationally (Using logical formulas)
 Act rationally (Design intelligent systems to maximize goals)

41. Alexa and AI
 Alexa has the ability to learn and solve problems.
 Can Alexa think like a human? No. It is optimized to
perform complex tasks and cannot multi-task.
 Can Alexa act like a human? Not so much but it can sing
and show signs of humor.
 Can Alexa think rationally? Yes. It can apply algorithms
and functions.
 Can Alexa act rationally? Yes. Ex. It can figure out the
nearest pizza place and buy items from Amazon.

42. State of Artificial Intelligence
 Needs to be more conversational
 More data = better machine learning

43. The Future of the Connected Car
 More skills, more integrations.
 Ex. Volkswagen will be integrating with Alexa
 7000+ skills on the Alexa app
 “Consumers increasingly want to stay connected to their
homes while on the move”
- Don Butler, Connected Vehicle and Services executive
director of Ford
 Self-driving cars

44. Have cars talk to one another
 Ex. One car experiences black ice on the road and other
cars are alerted to avoid that area.
 Be more efficient
 Predict safer routes
 Have better car maintenance

45. Amazon delivery to car trunks with help of
Alexa
 Article by Tylor
Orton:https://www.biv.com/article/2017/1/pop-your-
trunk-amazon-has-delivery/
 “Eventually we’ll be able to pop [your] trunk and allow
Amazon to deliver packages securely there, which will
make it more convenient for the customers and a lot
more efficient for Amazon to deliver to cars even
faster.” – Kenny Hawk, Mojio CEO

46. Privacy concerns
 Amazon’s Echo & Dot are always on
 Records your voice after wake word and transfers it to a
processor for analysis
 Information is stored on Amazon’s servers
 Can delete your data

47. Murder in Arkansas
 Victor Collins was killed and his body was found in his
friend’s hot tub. There was an Amazon Echo near the
crime scene. Law enforcement agents asked Amazon to
turn over the audio and other records but they refused.
 http://www.inc.com/joseph-steinberg/amazon-alexa-
recordings-requested-by-police-in-murder-case.html
 Can Alexa be used against you?
 The issue of using speech recordings as evidence

48.  Ultimately, we must find a balance
between privacy and convenience. And in
the end, Alexa is an incredibly powerful
tool and will continue to advance the
field of artificial intelligence.

49. Resources
 https://developer.amazon.com
 https://aws.amazon.com
 https://www.moj.io/developer/

50. Questions?
 Twitter: hongily
 Email: elam@liebsoft.com
 Website: www.liebsoft.com