Instant Brands, the maker of the Instant Pot, announced a new collaboration with Google during the CES show being held in Las Vega this week.
According to a press release, Instant Brands said the Instant Pot Smart WiFi pressure cooker now works with Google Assistant and is launching this week. With it, users can cook with their Instant Pot cooker using voice commands. The Instant Pot Smart WiFi cooker lets users monitor and control the Instant Pot from the Instant Pot mobile app. With the added functionality, customers will now be able to use Google Assistant to control and check the status of the cooker hands-free with their voice.
“Driving innovation in the kitchen is at the forefront of what we do at Instant Brands,” Dr. Robert Wang, founder and CEO of Instant Brands, said in the press release. “This collaboration with Google shows our commitment to making life a little easier for people, especially when it comes to mealtime.”
The move on the part of Instant Brands to collaborate with Google comes at a time when a voice-activated assistance platform war is emerging. With Amazon’s Alexa hugely popular, Google has been stepping up its efforts to get Google Assistant in as many as devices as possible. As it stands, Amazon Senior Vice President of Devices and Services David Limp recently told The Verge that more than 100 million devices with Alexa integrated into them have been sold so far. While Alexa is trumping Google Assistant and Apple’s Siri in terms of preinstalls, Limp doesn’t think a platform war like in the past will emerge this time around. He told the Verge there will be multiple players for the foreseeable future and that Amazon wants to work with everyone. “We’re still a big believer in multiple assistants,” Limps said. “We think they will interact in lots of different ways.”