Google Looks to Put Assistant on Next-Gen Smart Home Devices With Assistant Connect

Just a day after announcing that Google Assistant is almost on a billion devices, Google is launching a new toolkit for developers that will help it get Assistant on more devices. The company today introduced Google Assistant Connect, a new platform for device manufacturers.

Google Assistant Connect will allow Google to put its Assistant on the next generation of smart home devices. The idea behind the platform is to let product makers put an Assistant experience on their products that utilize Assistant on a linked device without needing all the hardware and software required to build an Assistant-powered device.

So for example, a device manufacturer could use Assistant Connect to display the current weather and temperature on a smart thermostat, while using Assistant Connect to actually get and display all the data from a connected device, say a Google Home. Google says the Assistant will essentially handle all the “higher-order” computing, making it much easier for device manufacturers to make smart gadgets without needing to build all the headroom for actually implementing a full-on Assistant experience. And plus, these devices may actually be slightly cheaper as a result.

The new platform is currently in a closed beta. And it’s really similar to what Amazon is doing with the Alexa Connect Kit.

Google’s Assistant Connect platform has a ton of potential. CES has made it clear that companies are not afraid to put out devices with Assistant on them, and Assistant Connect making things easier for manufacturers could lead to a huge expansion on the number of devices with Assistant on them.