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If Microsoft’s Plan Works Out, You’ll Never Be Alone in Your Car Again

Microsoft and Nissan working on bringing Cortana in cars

Jan 4, 2017 12:17 GMT  ·  By
Cortana will most likely be offered on select Nissan models
   Cortana will most likely be offered on select Nissan models

Microsoft and Nissan are expected to announce a new partnership later this week at CES, as the two companies have been working on a project that’s eventually supposed to bring Cortana in cars.

Microsoft’s efforts to expand into the automotive industry aren’t exactly new, as the company has explored several ways to do it, and now it looks like a partnership with Japanese carmaker Nissan is very close to making digital assistant Cortana available behind the wheel.

Cortana, which made its debut on Windows Phone, but it’s now available on Windows 10 PCs as well, will most likely be offered on select Nissan models as a way to perform a series of tasks hands-free.

Nissan has posted a teaser of what seems to be a big announcement scheduled for January 5 at CES, when the company is expected to announce the official debut of Cortana in the car.

As far as the features offered by the digital assistant behind the wheel are concerned, there’s not much known at this point, but it’s believed that Cortana would be able to perform thinks like voice calls, reservations, setting reminders, and controlling the navigation system in a similar way it does on a PC.

Microsoft: We’re not interested in building cars

Bringing Cortana and other services in cars is part of Microsoft’s efforts to conquer the automotive market because, as compared to rivals Apple and Google, the Redmond-based software giant does not plan to develop cars or self-driving vehicles.

“We won’t be building our own autonomous vehicle but we would like to enable autonomous vehicles and assisted driving as well,” Peggy Johnson, head of the company’s business development unit, said last year.

“You’re sitting in the car for many, many minutes a day. Can that be part of your new office, can it be your new desk, a place where you actually get work done? We believe it can. Each of them had a little something different that they wanted,” she added.

Full information on Microsoft’s collaboration with Nissan, including the new Cortana integration in vehicles manufactured by the Japanese carmaker, will be announced on January 5 at CES.