Baidu Launches the Duer Virtual Assistant
Chinese Internet giant Baidu has launched its own conversational personal assistant service called Duer for its Android-based smartphones.
With the launch, Baidu aims to take on Google, Microsoft, Nuance Communications, and Apple, which already have their own voice assistants in Google Now, Cortana, Nina, and Siri, respectively.
Duer is available as part of the Baidu Android search app installed on millions of smartphones across China. With it, Baidu is providing quick voice access to Baidu’s various Internet services
Using the voice command, the app will initially enable users to order food, make restaurant reservations, buy movie tickets, book flights, and control smart devices around the home, More services, including applications for health care, education, and finance, are in the works, according to the company
The company has also said that Duer will be able to mine meaning and user intent from written information on the Web.