You'll Soon Be Able to Control Your Hyundai From Your Couch

Expanding on its smart home offerings, Hyundai is demonstrating how its cars will work with the Google Assistant and Google Home.

On display at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) this week in Las Vegas, the automaker is showcasing how you can control your Hyundai with simple voice commands like, “Ok Google, Tell Blue Link to start my Santa Fe and set the temperature to 72 degrees,” or “Ok Google, Tell Blue Link to send the address of the Mandarin Oriental in Las Vegas to my Sonata,” and “Ok Google, ask Blue Link to lock my car.”

“Our customers are finding smart home integrations like the one we are showcasing with Google Home to be very useful and convenient,” said Manish Mehrotra, director of digital business planning and connected operations at Hyundai Motor America. “We will continue to add layers of convenience to the Blue Link connected car system and our cars, making features like remote EV charge management, remote locking, temperature and remote start easier than ever while sitting on the couch and saying ‘Ok Google’.”

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In order for it to work, Hyundai owners would need a Blue Link account, which Google Home connects to in order for it to control the vehicle. Blue Link services can be easily accessed from the web or via the Blue Link owners’ smartphone app. Some functions are even controlled via the latest Android Wear and Apple Watch smartwatch offerings.

This is very similar to what Hyundai previously offered with the Amazon Alexa digital assistant, but expanding the functions to owners of the Google Home devices means that more car buyers will have access to these features.