Nuance Voice Control Automotive Brings the Power of Dragon to the Car

Nuance Communications today announced the availability of Nuance Voice Control Automotive, a new mobile platform that enables drivers to take advantage of today’s most popular connected services with voice commands based on the Dragon NaturallySpeaking core speech technology.

Nuance Voice Control Automotive is the industry’s first solution to provide one-button, seamless access to all services —on-board and connected — via a single, consistent voice user interface that leverages advancements in natural language understanding and mobile speech applications.

Nuance Voice Control Automotive provides drivers around the world with a safer connected car experience through interaction with online services using remote speech applications based on Nuance’s Dragon core speech technology. Dragon is already used by millions globally via its PC-based dictation software, and the Dragon Dictation and Dragon Search Apps for iPhone. Now manufacturers can harness the power of Dragon in their cars to allow drivers to access dynamic real-time information and services including:

• SMS text messaging and email capabilities, allowing drivers to simply speak and send messages while keeping their hands on the wheel and eyes on the road;
• Interaction with social networks such as Twitter and Facebook;
• News, weather, and traffic updates and the latest sports scores and stock prices;
• Movie theatre locations, film listings and times;
• Dining options in current area or point of destination; and,
• Price comparisons for hotels, fuel, etc.

The Nuance Voice Control Automotive in-vehicle head unit serves as “mission control,” tying together all solution components to enable high-performance speech interaction with all services available in a connected car environment. The embedded in-vehicle head unit leverages the Nuance VoCon 3200 speech recognition engine and Nuance Vocalizer text-to-speech (TTS) solution to enable direct speech interaction with on-board applications, while Dragon technology is used for connected capabilities. These proven solutions allow drivers to use speech for controlling in-vehicle systems, including mobile phones, entertainment systems, navigation devices, and more.

“Automakers around the world are deploying in-car connected services that give drivers access to traffic reports, local business search, weather reports, and even the ability to send and receive text and email messages. However, it’s critical that these experience-altering services are accessible to the driver without creating heightened distraction behind the wheel,” said Arnd Weil, General Manager, Nuance Automotive. “Our Nuance Voice Control Automotive platform enables manufacturers to voice-enable every aspect of the in-car infotainment system, providing drivers with the ability to take advantage of these amazing connected services while keeping their eyes on the road and hands on the wheel. It’s part of our larger mission to reduce dangerous driver distractions.”

Nuance’s automotive solutions power the speech recognition and text-to-speech capabilities of more than 25 million automobiles and 20 million personal navigation devices from the world’s leading brands – including the recently unveiled MyFord Touch direct connect technology powered by Ford SYNC.