Automotive Property for Alexa Skills

When a user interacts with Alexa from an automotive endpoint, the user's request to Alexa includes the Automotive property. You can adapt your skill responses to manage the interactions with users who are using Alexa from their cars. For details about automotive skills, see Alexa Skills for Driving.

How the Automotive property works

An automotive endpoint is a device that the Alexa service has identified as intended for use in the car.

Users can interact with your skill on any device with Alexa. If the device interacting with your skill is an automotive endpoint, the user request to your skill includes the Automotive property in the context object, as shown in the following example.

{
  "version": "1.0",
  "session": {
    ...
  },
  "context": {
    "Automotive": {}
    ...
  },
  "request": {
    ...
  }
}

For more information about these user requests, see Request Types Reference.

Example Node.js code for the Automotive indicator

This Node.js code parses the context object for the presence of the Automotive property. If this property is present, the code determines that the device is an automotive endpoint.

var isAnAutomotiveEndpoint = handlerInput.requestEnvelope.context.Automotive;
if (isAnAutomotiveEndpoint) {
     console.log("Alexa customer is an automotive endpoint");
}

Customize skill responses based on the Automotive property

Your skill can parse the request and determine if the Automotive property is present. If present, you can design your skill to have appropriate responses. For information about how to design skill responses, see Best Practices for Designing Alexa Skills for Automotive.

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Last updated: Jun 27, 2024