Anker just released a new accessory for your car called the Roav Bolt ($50), integrated with Google Assistant, so you can interact with it similarly to a Google Home smart speaker or the Google Assistant on your phone. Just say “Hey, Google” (or “OK, Google”) and the Roav Bolt will start listening.
The Roav Bolt promises to be useful for hands-free calling, navigation and music control (Google Assistant works with Spotify, Pandora and Google Play Music). It requires your car’s speaker system and there are three ways of connecting to it: an aux input, a 3.5mm-to-3.5mm cable or Bluetooth, assuming your car is new enough to support it. The Roav Bolt still relies on your smartphone for data, so if you’re in a dead zone or you forget your smartphone, Google Assistant won’t be much help.
The Roav Bolt doesn’t make a ton of sense for people just using it for navigation, as your smartphone can pretty much do this already. If you’re used to talking to Amazon’s voice assistant, Anker’s Roav Viva ($50) is pretty much the same as the Roav Bolt, but it works with Alexa.