CARS.COM — Ford says that with sophisticated cameras and microphones, tomorrow’s cars might be able to interpret vocal inflections or facial expressions to cue up appropriate music or mood lighting after a stressful day. And it’s partnering with a German university to work on much of that.
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The automaker has teamed with RWTH Aachen University to run a research project that uses multiple microphones to improve voice recognition and speech processing. In a couple of years, Nuance Communications — a company that helped Ford develop its Sync voice-recognition system — says your car could prompt you to order flowers for Mother’s Day or add a stop to purchase food your household is running low on. Ford says drivers could someday answer phone calls with a nod, adjust volume with gestures or set the navigation destination by simply looking at the map. (One of those features is already available from BMW, but it’s kind of pointless.)
“We’re well on the road to developing the empathetic car, which might tell you a joke to cheer you up, offer advice when you need it, remind you of birthdays and keep you alert on a long drive,” Nuance Senior Director of Marketing Automotive Fatima Vital said in a statement.
The industry is a far cry from that today. J.D. Power and Associates’ 2017 Vehicle Dependability Study found that voice-recognition systems still cause lots of owner complaints, while an earlier AAA study suggests voice recognition for complicated tasks can amount to serious driver distraction.
But Ford’s current Sync 3 system, which offers Apple CarPlay, Android Auto and — soon — Amazon Alexa integration, is a big step in the right direction. That isn’t something we could say for the ill-fated MyFord Touch multimedia system that preceded it. What’s next? Ford says to stay tuned for next week, when it will share more news at Barcelona’s Mobile World Congress.
