Voice recognition systems

[Chariotoflove]

I have a 2015 Kia K900 with all the trimmings. It does most everything it sets out to do really well. One of the things is doesn't is understand voice commands. It's not only bad, it's hilariously, catastrophically bad. There are only two voice commands that I can really get to work: "Go Home", and "Call___". This second one is hit or miss, depending on the name of the person. I have heard many people complain about in-car voice command systems from high-dollar marques for years, including demonstrations of hilarity on old Top Gear and recently The Grand Tour. So, I just assumed that cars don't have the proper brain power to do the job correctly, that it can only be done with connection to distributed cloud computing like Siri uses.

But then I test drove an old Infiniti G35 at a BHPH lot this summer, and I decided to test its voice command navigation system.

It stepped me through setting up a route plan from Texas to my family's house in Indy...flawlessly. Seems like a small thing, but I was amazed. It made me wonder why the other big names can't seem to do it right.

Why does this matter? I think for a couple of reasons. First, problems with in-car infotainment systems are factoring into initial quality scores. If a car is good but people get frustrated by the software and complain, it brings down the score of the entire car. Second, even though most cars are now putting in physical buttons and knobs for the most important stuff, and you can go through the menus for the rest without having to use your voice, it would be nice to have something you paid for work as advertised. It's becoming less important as CarPlay and Android Auto integration become more prevalent, but again, those systems rely on good internet connection through your wireless plan, not on board capability.

This leaves me disappointed. If Infiniti could do it over 15 years ago, why is it such a hurdle? With so many makers putting so much money into these systems, you'd think it wouldn't be a problem anymore. Oh well, I'll just have to wait until Skynet takes over completely.

[A Former User]

@chariotoflove The Volvo has voice recognition. Allegedly. I can only get it to say "I'm sorry, I don't understand."

[ForSweden]

@sovande Du måste tala deras språk

[A Former User]

@forsweden Donde estan tus pantalones?

[CarsOfFortLangley]

@chariotoflove I think with the advent of machine learning/AI powered Siri and Google assistant in Carplay and Android Auto respectivley, this issue is effectively solved. It isn't manufacturers ability to put in a decent system anymore.... just push a button and talk.

God help you if you have no cell service or have an accent though

[Skyfire77]

@chariotoflove I don't think it's the processing, it's the acoustics. Car cabins are noisy places, and since even luxury companies don't splurge on the best mics, the system can't hear you.

[Chariotoflove]

@sovande said in Voice recognition systems:

@chariotoflove The Volvo has voice recognition. Allegedly. I can only get it to say "I'm sorry, I don't understand."

It recognizes that it doesn't understand. So there's that.

[Chariotoflove]

@carsoffortlangley said in Voice recognition systems:

God help you if you have no cell service or have an accent though

That was my point though, or one of them. The other is, if it was solved without needing to have your phone plan by one company years ago, why haven't others followed suit?

Also, I love Siri, but she still glitches, even with all those gajillioins of terabytes of computing clusters behind her.

[Chariotoflove]

@skyfire77 said in Voice recognition systems:

@chariotoflove I don't think it's the processing, it's the acoustics. Car cabins are noisy places, and since even luxury companies don't splurge on the best mics, the system can't hear you.

But why would you go through all of that, including the effort to install mics that feed into your Bose noise cancellation system, and then cheap out on the one inexpensive component that would put you head and shoulders above your luxury competition?

[SilentbutnotreallyDeadly]

@chariotoflove
I've got an 11 year old Lad whose voice recognition system is even worse...

[Chariotoflove]

@silentbutnotreallydeadly said in Voice recognition systems:

@chariotoflove
I've got an 11 year old Lad whose voice recognition system is even worse...

Hehe, wiring harness faulty at the factory. No returns, no warranty.

[SilentbutnotreallyDeadly]

@chariotoflove said in Voice recognition systems:

@silentbutnotreallydeadly said in Voice recognition systems:

@chariotoflove
I've got an 11 year old Lad whose voice recognition system is even worse...

Hehe, wiring harness faulty at the factory. No returns, no warranty.

I plan some DIY modifications. Wish me luck!

[Chariotoflove]

@silentbutnotreallydeadly said in Voice recognition systems:

@chariotoflove said in Voice recognition systems:

@silentbutnotreallydeadly said in Voice recognition systems:

@chariotoflove
I've got an 11 year old Lad whose voice recognition system is even worse...

Hehe, wiring harness faulty at the factory. No returns, no warranty.

I plan some DIY modifications. Wish me luck!

Oh shit. Luck! You're gonna need it.

[EssExTee]

@chariotoflove My Fusion can't understand the word "Mom", and either starts dialing someone else without confirming or launches into a 30 second long spoken list of acceptable commands that has to be manually canceled with a button. I have to dictate her phone number when calling her from the car.

[Chariotoflove]

@essextee said in Voice recognition systems:

@chariotoflove My Fusion can't understand the word "Mom", and either starts dialing someone else without confirming or launches into a 30 second long spoken list of acceptable commands that has to be manually canceled with a button. I have to dictate her phone number when calling her from the car.

That's stupid, but also at least your car will recognize the numbers you say!

[EssExTee]

@chariotoflove Other than that it works alright. I can dictate an address or tell it to find a Wendy's or whatever when I'm on the road. I wish I could control more than just the nav or phone with it though. Some new cars you can adjust the climate control via voice commands.

[Chariotoflove]

@essextee Kinda jealous right now.

[EssExTee]

@chariotoflove Don't be because aside from the competent voice/nav system Ford's SYNC sucks ass, and not in the good way.

[MUSASHI66]

@carsoffortlangley VEERR KAN AI WOCH GRAVITY!!! cracked me up.

I love Scottish, even fake.

[zipfuel]

@chariotoflove interesting about the Infiniti clearly there was no intercompany sharing cos my 2016 Pathfinder is a shitshow. It will call.... somebody, total roll of the dice as to who. You know those contacts you never cleaned out of your phone? Yup, now you're talking to that plumber from 5 years ago

[Eric]

My car only really does “Call X” right about 20% of the time. I have been trained to call my wife by brutally mispronouncing her name, and it works as much as 80% of the time. This is true in both the Focus and the Highlander.

[VincentMalamute]

@carsoffortlangley said in Voice recognition systems:

@chariotoflove I think with the advent of machine learning/AI powered Siri and Google assistant in Carplay and Android Auto respectivley, this issue is effectively solved. It isn't manufacturers ability to put in a decent system anymore.... just push a button and talk.

God help you if you have no cell service or have an accent though

Exactly. We used Dragon Voice Dictation for our radiology reports since 2005 or so. It was surprisingly accurate with the (I assume) machine learning going on in the cloud.

Interesting that it seemed to be more accurate for foreign born radiologist with accents. For my standard American accent, recognition seemed to gradually decline over months.

[Chariotoflove]

@zipfuel
Oh fun!