Amazon has dabbled in car sales before, as far back as 2013 when it offered the Nissan Versa on its website. However, instead of selling directly, it connected potential buyers with local dealers. The cars bought through Amazon were even delivered in huge Amazon-branded boxes. In 2016, Morgan Stanley foresaw Amazon venturing into car sales and mentioned Hyundai as a potential partner, which has now materialized.

In addition to offering cars for sale through local dealers, Amazon’s collaboration with Hyundai involves leasing its AWS cloud infrastructure to the Korean automaker. Hyundai believes the partnership will aid in various aspects such as streamlining production, ensuring security and disaster recovery, and advancing connected vehicle technology.

Naturally, Amazon’s voice assistant, Alexa, will play a significant role in this collaboration. Starting from 2025, Hyundai vehicles will feature hands-free Alexa interaction, similar to how Echo devices work at home. The Amazon Echo Auto is a prime example of what this future integration with Hyundai cars might look like.

In addition to assisting with in-car tasks, Alexa will also be able to control smart home devices, check door lock status, provide traffic updates, and more before the vehicle arrives home.