While the Amazon Echo might have launched as a speaker with assistant capabilities, it seems that Amazon has been on a spree as of late, introducing new features and capabilities to the speaker that we can only imagine will make it extremely invaluable in the future. For example recently it has been updated to stream music from Spotify and order a pizza.
However it looks like Amazon has made some changes where it will now be able to call you an Uber, as announced on Uber’s blog. According to Uber, “Now you don’t have to rely on your phone when you’re ready to go. You can simply ask Alexa to order an Uber for you, and she’ll request a ride right to your door.”
Just like the rest of the commands you issue to Amazon’s Alexa, users will need to speak specific phrases for it to work. For example if you want an Uber, you’ll have to say, “Alexa, ask Uber to request a ride.”; or “Alexa, ask Uber to request an Uber X.”; or “Alexa, ask Uber where’s my ride?”.
If this sounds good, all you’d have to do to enable the feature is to set your Echo’s location via the Settings menu in the Alexa app, enable “Uber” under the Skills section of the app, link it to your Uber account, and you’re good to go. Uber has also announced that if this is your first time using Uber, you can enter the 15Alexa code to get $15 off your first ride. In the meantime you can watch it in action in the video above, courtesy of The Verge.