Voice recognition in vehicles is not new . Cars have been supporting voice dialing for some years now, to make phone calls for example. However, advances in speech recognition and natural language processing (NLP) powered by artificial intelligence (AI) are making voice interactions more precise and nuanced, allowing the voice interface to take on more sophisticated roles and provide a best conversation experience. “AI speech recognition,” say experts like Ovum, “is getting more and more accurate.”
And if a digital assistant misinterpreted about 25% of the words spoken a couple of years ago, now it only misinterprets 8% . These significant advances in NLP allow computer applications to understand grammar and context as well. And that is why voice is today one of the safest ways for drivers to engage with car functions and digital services .
In this way, within the framework of this year’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona , SEAT has ventured to announce its marriage to the world market leader in smart voice assistants, Amazon’s Alexa , which implies that throughout this year Alexa may be available on the SEAT León, Ateca, Ibiza and Arona models .
The interactive personal voice assistant that these cars will include will learn with the use of each client , using machine learning techniques associated with artificial intelligence.
Luca di Meo, president of Seat, has indicated that the union with Alexa does not mean that this is the only voice assistant they use. “The market, and users, will be in charge of guiding us along this path, and at every moment we will decide if we marry Siri from Apple, Cortana from Microsoft, Bixby from Samsung or Google Assistant”.
And as SEAT itself says, the car for years has ceased to be a machine that transports us from one place to another to become an extension of the Smartphone : “receive traffic information in real time, ask for the weather forecast, or opening the garage while driving is now possible thanks to connected vehicles ”, says Fabian Simmer, Seat Digital Officer.
If Amazon with Alexa will be at SEAT this year, Apple’s Siri digital assistant for iPhone is now available for a growing number of connected car models through Apple’s CarPlay smartphone mirroring solution. CarPlay allows compatible vehicle users to connect their iPhone and call Siri to control certain iPhone applications.
China’s Baidu, for its part, has similar plans to bring its digital assistant Duer to other devices and platforms beyond smartphones , and has started betting on connected cars by sealing a deal with Korea’s leading carmaker. South, Hyundai Motors. Duer is different from Siri or Cortana because it focuses on supporting digital commerce services, and not just information requests. It is optimized for online shopping and recommendations . And you can make restaurant reservations, buy movie tickets, and book flights, among other things.
Microsoft, for its part, was lagging behind Apple, Google and Amazon, but has created Microsoft Connected Vehicle Platform, which allows the integration of its voice assistant Cortana, among other things. Renault-Nissan has partnered with Microsoft, it will use its platform to create virtual assistants and various connected driving services.
