Deploying Google Assistant to Android TV devices is one of Google’s major goals for 2018.
Edward Corn, the company’s head of Android TV partnerships, said that it would introduce Assistant in France, Germany, Japan, Korea and several other markets this year.
Corn also outlined the vision for Assistant in Android TV. It allows for complex content discovery and makes navigation easy; control playback through voice; control of IoT devices; answers from Google with visual cards; and direct access to third party services.
Corn in addition said that Assistant is more than just TV and offers opportunities for carriers.
Looking more generally at Android TV, Corn said is now being adopted by the industry, with the cumulative number of activated units doubling each year.
It has now been deployed by 27 operators around the world, with 65 projects in development.
The operators include NTT Docomo (Japan), Safaricom (Kenya) and Canal Digital (Norway).