Advertisement

Volkswagen owners can use Siri Shortcuts to unlock their car

You can also set the temperature and start the defroster using your voice.

If you're a Volkswagen driver, you now have another way to lock and unlock your car, start and stop electric charging and check your remaining estimated mileage. That's because VW has added Siri integration to its Car-Net app.

You can also use Siri to turn on alarms, start the defroster, set the temperature and remind yourself where you parked. You might opt to set up routines using the voice assistant's Shortcuts, a feature that arrived with iOS 12. So you could, say, ask Siri to warm up the car, defrost the windshield and top up the battery charge with a single command before you step out into a chilly morning.

VW does charge a monthly subscription fee for Car-Net, however, so you won't get those Siri commands for free. Still, this update deepens VW's ties with voice assistants -- it has already added Amazon Alexa to its cars.