The personal voice assistant has become an essential element in cars

By TheStar – Feb 16, 2022 7:00AM

A version of this article was first published on TheStar

Voice assistants are taking over the interiors of our cars, allowing us to perform a whole range of hands-free commands. The trend is not about to stop.

The latest example is Alexa at Jaguar Land Rover. Each manufacturer now has its own intelligent assistant, whether it’s a system designed in-house or coming from an external provider.

“Alexa, navigate me to home” or “play my chill-out playlist”. More than 55,000 Jaguar owners will be able to start using Amazon’s voice assistant this month. Alexa will be part of a remote update of the Pivi Pro infotainment system, available for example on the I-Pace.

Jaguar Land Rover is not the first manufacturer to partner with Alexa, which already can be found in a number of vehicles from the Ford and Volkswagen groups.

The intelligent voice assistant responds to simple, everyday requests. For example, it allows the driver to control navigation and music, get news or information or check the weather forecast. The same functions are essentially handled by Google’s assistant, which is now present in a range of manufacturers’ models, starting with those of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi and Hyundai groups.

While many manufacturers have partnered with Amazon or Google to integrate an intelligent voice assistant into their latest models, others have decided to develop their own solution. That’s the choice made, for example, by Mercedes and BMW.

Via commands starting with “Hey Mercedes” or “Hey BMW”, a driver can be assisted by a virtual co-pilot, capable of guiding them along their daily journeys and managing their on-board entertainment tools. Such a voice assistant can also, if necessary, warn the driver in case of a technical problem or remind them of their next maintenance appointment.

Meanwhile, at French firm Peugeot, the personal voice assistant project has not yet been rolled out beyond concept cars. Presented in 2018 on the e-Legend, this voice-activated personal assistant proves to be capable, on paper, of modifying the driving mode or even various comfort options such as the position or temperature of the seat or managing playlists etc.

According to Peugeot, it will be able to understand up to 17 languages. However, it has not yet been deployed in a production model. – AFP Relaxnews