More Cortana news coming out of CES. Nissan and BMW have both announced that they will be adding Microsoft Cortana to their in car systems. BMW will be adding Cortana to provide reminders and other services into BMW Connected services:

This means that the voice-controlled capabilities already offered by Microsoft Cortana on a home PC could or smartphone in future also be available on board a BMW. For example, BMW Connected can provide a reminder en-route of an upcoming appointment for which no location has yet been fixed. And Cortana can be used to make a suitable restaurant recommendation and reserve a table.

Nissan announced they would be adding Cortana as a virtual assistance in the car. Nissan demonstrated the possibilities in a concept video where the driver asks about schedules and Cortana suggests shortcuts for routes, this is from the Nissan press release:

On connected cars, which combine Nissan Intelligent Driving and Nissan Intelligent Integration, Ghosn announced that the Renault-Nissan Alliance is continuing its partnership with Microsoft to build the next generation of connected car technologies. The keynote included a demonstration of how Microsoft’s personal assistant technology Cortana can make driving more efficient and seamless. Cortana is one of the technologies that the Alliance and Microsoft are exploring together.

Currently Cortana is only available for iOS, Windows and Android but Microsoft are looking to expand that this year by enabling Cortana on IoT and consumer electronic devices. Microsoft face still completion from Google and now Amazon who are making deals to add Alexa to in-car system and consumer devices.

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