Amazon and GM have partnered up to bring the OnStar emergency services platform to certain Alexa-compatible devices.
The result is a new Alexa skill called OnStar Guardian that GM says was designed to be used “during crisis situations, such as house fires, medical emergencies, break-ins, and more.” The skill can be invoked by saying “Alexa, call for help,” at which point the voice assistant will contact OnStar Emergency-Certified Advisors, who can provide more assistance from there.
OnStar Guardian will only be available to a limited number of current OnStar members at launch, GM says, but it plans to roll the skill out “to anyone in the United States with a compatible, in-home Alexa-enabled device” starting in 2022. The list of compatible devices includes the Echo and Echo Dot smart speakers as well as Echo Show entertainment systems.
This could prove valuable to people in a crisis who can’t reach their phones, for example, or who don’t have their own devices to call emergency services. Voice assistants can’t directly call police or fire departments, so being able to quickly contact a real human who’s all-but-guaranteed to be available could prove crucial in an emergency situation.
“Initial OnStar members will receive more details about how to sign up for the OnStar Guardian skill for Amazon Alexa via email,” GM says, and more information is supposed to be available via the OnStar website as the skill gets closer to release.
