Frequently, Alexa Integration loses connection to Amazon somehow and reverts to a barely-functional version of Audi's own voice control. This is identified by Alexa answering (but in the Audi voice) with "Alexa, to use Alexa you can say things like Alexa what’s my flash briefing..." In what appears to be a "disconnected" mode, you can only do the same as you could with the Audi voice control.
When Alexa is connected correctly, you can ask Alexa almost anything you can with a normal Alexa unit in the home. "Alexa, take a note" is REALLY helpful in the car, and I also use "Alexa Open/Close the garage door" and "Alexa turn on the garage lights / floodlights / etc" with home integration devices.
As evidenced here: https://www.e-tronforum.com/threads/alexa-works-maybe-20-of-the-time.4495/ others have the same problem.
It's not unique to my car, it's a software defect in the MMI - I suspect that if the connection to Amazon's services is not established when the MMI first fires up, it doesn't recover.
A reboot of the MMI will fix (it takes about 5 minutes before everything comes back online) but the next time you start the car, it could be broken again or might work.
I'm interested in gathering feedback from others who have this issue across different models with Alexa integration and reporting directly to Audi and my local dealer.
Do others have this problem please?