GE Appliances-made product lineup now features full support for the Google Assistant, the Louisville, Kentucky-based consumer electronics manufacturer announced on Wednesday. The newly introduced functionality of the company’s home appliances has been designed with the goal of facilitating multitasking and allowing users to go one step further in their efforts to create a truly connected home, Haier’s subsidiary said in a statement on its latest push in the Internet of Things (IoT) segment.
The support for the Google Assistant is featured by the entirety of the company’s Internet-enabled product lineup as of today and encompasses both the smartphone and the Google Home variant of Google’s artificial intelligence (AI) companion. GE Appliances is rolling out the functionality to its compatible devices via a regular update that’s already being distributed. The move marks yet another step in the Louisville-based company’s plan to offer a fully connected product portfolio to its customers and take advantage of the rising adoption rates of IoT solutions. GE Appliances previously enhanced its device lineup with support for Amazon’s Alexa AI assistant and Dash Replenishment Service, in addition to rolling out support for IFTTT, Drop, and Nest Labs’ solutions. Instead of opting for an exclusive IoT partner, the Haier-owned consumer electronics manufacturer is seemingly keen to continue exploring this emerging technology through numerous non-exclusive collaborations with the goal of providing its customers with a wide variety of options for connecting their homes; as long as they’re buying GE Appliances-made products, of course.
Among other things, the newly introduced support for the Google Assistant will allow the company’s customers to control and check the status of their ovens, dishwashers, and other appliances. The newly introduced functionality is part of the Geneva Home platform and is meant to be referred to as such, meaning that users who are looking to control their GE Appliances products with Google’s voice-enabled companion need to start their commands with “Ok Google, ask Geneva Home to…” The inclusion of the Google Assistant into the company’s ecosystem marks yet another major AI expansion for the Mountain View-based tech giant that will likely continue looking for more consumer electronics companies to partner with in the future.