Written by Nickolay Shmyrev
on 

Cars Controlled By Speech

Being a speech recognition guy I'm looking for a car with speech recognition included. Sounds strange to select car just because of it, but that is just kidding. So far the list is:

  • Honda Accord
  • Any Ford 2011
  • Mazda 6
Not listing something expensive like BMW or Mersedes. Hm, it looks almost everyone is doing that. Any others? Which is the most advanced one?

Some details on particular implementation

Ford SYNC 2011

Quite advanced system. Command-based. Supports many types of commands to control dvd or get baseball scores. Supports user profiles but doesn't seem like it has specific training procedure. With current speaker recognition capabilities it could in theory adapt to users automatically without profiles.

Mazda 6 2011

Pretty interesting system, but limited comparing to previous one. According to owner manual it supports a very limited list of commands to manage calls, get incoming messages and. From interesting capabilites it supports training and voice entry for contacts. Three languages - English, French, Spanish. Looks like it's using single microphone. Looks like voice navigation system has separate speech recognition subsystem.
    Honda Fit 2009


    Many commands mostly related to navigation but no user adaptation and no profiles. Alphanumeric entry as a backup to vocabulary search. This one is very simple.


    Mitsubishi/Hyundai 2011


    I didn't manage to find the manual on them. Feature name "Bluetooth hands-free phone system with voice recognition and phonebook download" makes me think it's the same system as in Mazda.


    Talkmatic

    Doesn't seem like this is deployed, but presentation looks impressive

    KIA

    Accoding to SpeechTechMag Microsoft and Kia codeveloped the UVO multimedia and infotainment system, which the Korean automaker rolled out in its new Sportage, Sorento, and Optima models late last year. UVO lets users access media content and connect with people through  quick voice commands without having to navigate hierarchical menus.