BMW is deepening its tie-up with Amazon, announcing that the next generation of the BMW Intelligent Personal Assistant will be built on Amazon’s Alexa+ architecture, as the carmaker pushes harder into AI-driven in-car functions.
The upgraded assistant uses a large language model (LLM), a form of generative AI designed to understand natural speech and produce its own responses rather than relying only on fixed commands.
BMW said the aim was to make the voice assistant more useful in everyday driving, with replies that sound less scripted and better match what drivers actually ask.
BMW plans to show the enhanced AI-supported assistant publicly for the first time at CES 2026 in Las Vegas.
Initial availability is expected to be limited, at least at the start.
BMW said the feature would first roll out in Germany and the United States, with customers of the BMW iX3 in those two markets due to be the first to receive it from the second half of 2026.
Other BMW models and additional markets are set to follow in stages.
The rollout will also coincide with BMW’s next in-car interface.
The BMW iX3’s user experience is based on the new BMW Panoramic iDrive control concept, running BMW Operating System X.
In other words, the voice assistant update is not being treated as a bolt-on feature, but as part of a broader rethink of how drivers and passengers interact with the car.
BMW positions the move as another step towards a “software-defined vehicle” approach, where core functions can be improved and expanded via software rather than waiting for hardware changes.
It also said the Alexa+ integration is a way to better connect the car to the customer’s wider digital ecosystem, where voice assistants already sit on phones and smart-home devices.
The BMW Intelligent Personal Assistant has been a central part of the brand’s iDrive operating concept since 2018, and BMW has been steadily expanding its capabilities.
In 2022, BMW added Amazon Alexa Custom Assistant, which it said improved response times, broadened information sources, and made it better at understanding requests.
In 2025, BMW extended its voice assistant feature set for vehicles running Operating System 9, adding functions including music search as well as access to news, sports and general knowledge.
BMW said bringing Alexa+ into the next generation of the assistant is the latest proof point in its long-running cooperation with Amazon, and a key building block in its plan to scale AI voice features across the BMW model range over time.
