Benz Car “Command APS”

Passionate to know latest tech news on Cars/Navigation ! Read this....

---------

The 2007 Mercedes-Benz C-Class leverages Nuance speech solutions to provide drivers with new levels of safety and convenience when using the car’s audio, navigation and communication systems.

The car’s new in-vehicle control system, called “Command APS” by Mercedes-Benz, enables drivers to use their voice to select contacts from their phone address book, select music, or input addresses to the navigation system. DaimlerChrysler presented the in-vehicle navigation application and the voice-activated user interface as an option in the new C-Class at the Geneva Car Show 2007.

The new speech features of Command APS make it faster and easier to interact with a car’s audio, navigation and telecommunication systems. With Command APS, drivers can place calls by voice, listen to their text messages, control the audio systems and enter the destination for their navigation system by voice. Powered by Nuance VoCon, the embedded speech recognition software, the system allows the driver to control in-car functions in a natural and intuitive way. In addition, Nuance’s RealSpeak text-to-speech software is used to convert text into speech for readout of incoming text messages or turn-by-turn directions.

Drivers can formulate speech commands in many different ways without the need to use a small set of precise commands or to follow a multi-layer menu structure. For example, drivers can say, “Call Peter Miller” to initiate a phone call, eliminating the multiple voice commands required by previous speech systems. Drivers may also say, “Radio station WDR2,” to tune to a specific radio station without ever setting voice tags for specific channels. Command APS is “fluent” in US and UK-English, German, French, Italian, Spanish and Dutch, so drivers can select a language on-the-fly.

“As traffic volumes continue to increase, and car infotainment and communication systems become more sophisticated, speech technology provides the safest – and most convenient – interface to a car’s audio, navigation and communication systems,” says Craig Peddie, vice president and general manager, embedded speech, Nuance. “The Mercedes-Benz C-Class is one of the most comprehensive installations of voice features we have seen to date. The new model features a navigation device that allows drivers to enter their destination verbally — one of the most important features to increase safety and improve overall experience with a navigation system.”

Specific features of Command APS powered by Nuance speech solutions include:

Voice-activated destination entry: Drivers can simply say their destination address instead of having to type it on a touch-screen keypad. The voice interface reads out all information including street names and traffic information. The US system even allows users to enter the street name first, which means that in a state like California, it has over 200,000 street names in its active vocabulary.

Voice-activated, hands-free calling: Drivers can simply press the “Push to Talk” button on the steering wheel, and then say the name of the person to call. The system will automatically connect with the names in the mobile phone’s contact list without any pre-enrollment of the names required.

Audible text messages: The system converts text messages received on the handset to audio and reads them out loud. The system is sophisticated enough to translate commonly used text messaging expressions such as “LOL.”

Voice-activated music: With command and control of the audio and video system, a radio station can be selected by voice, both speaking the number of the frequency in natural numbers or by saying the name of the radio station. In addition it is also possible to select a track on the CD by simply saying, “Play Track 5.”
__________________