Skip to main content

Samsung SmartThings integration brings smart home control to Mercedes-Benzes

Everyone knows the feeling: You’re halfway to work, stuck in morning traffic, when you realize you can’t remember if you turned the oven off or not. Well, if you’re a Mercedes-Benz owner, you know longer have that worry.

Today, Samsung announced the integration of its SmartThings platform into Mercedes-Benz vehicles. It will give users the ability to use their car as a control center for their smart home. Thanks to this new feature, users can directly control their home from their vehicle without the need for a phone to act as an intermediary device.

The integrated voice control system allows users to control “thousands” of devices supported by the Samsung SmartThings platform. You can ask questions like, “Hey, Mercedes, did I leave the lights on at the house?” You can also use the system to open your garage door as you pull into your driveway, turn your thermostat on as you leave the office, and much more.

While users have always been able to control these devices remotely with their phones, the integration of a voice assistant into a vehicle makes it possible to take care of tasks in your home with nothing more than a few spoken words — perfect for those times when something comes to mind at a stoplight, but you can’t reach for your phone.

The control is not limited solely to the driver, either. Passengers in the back seats can also utilize the MBUX Voice Assistant to control the home. Mercedes-Benz and Samsung are working together to bridge the gap between car and home and hope that by implementing a voice assistant with smart home capabilities into Mercedes vehicles, the car can feel more like an extension of your home than just a tool for getting from point A to point B.

The integration of SmartThings with the MBUX Voice Assistant gives users much more control over their home. You no longer have to come home with the lights off or to a chilly house. Just ask your Mercedes to turn on the lights, turn up the thermostat, or even start the Roomba. As long as a device is compatible with SmartThings, you can control it through the new Mercedes integration.

Editors' Recommendations

Patrick Hearn
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Patrick Hearn writes about smart home technology like Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, smart light bulbs, and more. If it's a…
Can your smart home save you money on homeowners insurance?
Nest devices grouped together on a counter.

Smart home devices provide more than just convenient assistance -- they also help us complete tasks more efficiently and protect our homes. And now, they may actually be able to save you money on your homeowner's insurance.

Homeowners insurance protects or aids you if an incident happens. Yet the best days are when nothing goes wrong, and life is easy for everyone. Smart home devices can be your first line of defense against things that could cause your home harm.

Read more
Home Depot’s new Hubspace-compatible items include smart plug
A woman sitting on her couch looking at the Hubspace app on her phone.

Home Depot is expanding its Hubspace smart home lineup. If you're unfamiliar with Hubspace, it's Home Depot's smart home line that works with many of its in-house brands.

Brands such as Commercial Electric, Defiant, Ecosmart, and Hampton Bay (as well as others) can all be linked through the Hubspace app and work together. Once linked, you can even connect Google Assistant or Amazon Alexa to your Hubspace devices.

Read more
Smart homes without Wi-Fi: Huge possibilities or roadblocks?
Amazon Echo Show 15 hanging horizontally on the wall.

When it comes to smart home automations, there really isn't much that can't be done these days. From the moment you wake in the morning to the final minutes before bed, by issuance of a few simple voice commands, you can check your daily schedule, raise and lower blinds, fire up a pot of coffee, stream news radio, lock and unlock doors, initiate a video call, and so much more.
And as product developers are continuing to roll out new and innovative features, today's leading smart home devices are getting easier to use, more efficient, and -- you guessed it -- smarter. With innovation around every turn, what could possibly be improved upon?
Our hot take: The reliance on our Wi-Fi networks to operate this equipment.

The Internet of Things and ecosystems
The vast majority of smart home devices require a web connection, which is why this class of consumer tech and its related peripherals are often referred to as Internet of Things (IoT) components. While this label can be applied to essentially any hardware that has the capability of connecting to the internet, the phrase takes on a new meaning when discussing smart devices.

Read more