Meet Spike, an 'Intelligent Personal Assistant' for Mini Cars
Future cars from BMW's Mini brand will include an intelligent personal assistant called Spike.
Spike, who's based on the English bulldog that’s appeared in past Mini ads, will make his first major appearance at the Auto Shanghai International Trade Fair later this month, where he’ll be integrated into the cockpit of the Mini Concept Aceman.
According to Mini, drivers will access Spike on the car’s circular OLED central display and dashboard. According to Carscoops(Opens in a new window), Spike will be included in the 2023 Mini Countryman, the 2024 Mini Cooper, and the Aceman Crossover SUV in 2025.
Mini describes Spike as an "active protagonist in the cockpit," which is maybe a fancy way of saying backseat driver? He'll also take center stage as a "characterful companion for the user experience," the company says, which seems similarly meaningless.
In a video preview(Opens in a new window) of the new assistant, Spike is shown dancing on a circular OLED display in an animated Mini. The company did not immediately respond to PCMag’s request for comment on Spike’s capabilities, so it's unclear if he will dance for you upon request. Perhaps if you ask nicely.
In-car virtual assistants have been a mixed bag. You can talk to Alexa with the Echo Auto(Opens in a new window) add-on, and luxury brands like Mercedes and BMW support voice commands. But you can also just ask your phone if you turn on hands-free access to Siri or the Google Assistant.
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