KITT is becoming reality

  • Thread starter Thread starter AlexGTV
  • 8 comments
  • 1,425 views
A

AlexGTV

(Banned)
Messages
1,547
Greece
Salonica
Nearly 30 years after audiences were impressed with KITT's ability to talk to its driver in Knight Rider, car manufacturers are ready to launch a system that will enable verbal communication between vehicle and driver.

This digital dashboard is able to adjust the temperature inside the car, change music, give directions for the closest restaurant or gas station and read messages from the cell phone depending on the driver's order. Ford, one of the firsts manufacturers who will shortly employ the system in Europe, has included 10,000 commands in the dictionary of the system.

Drivers can chose the gender of their interlocutor, if they want to speak with a male or female voice. The american version of the female voice strongly resembles that of Cher's.

kittspeaks.jpg


The technology, named Sync, will initially be available for Ford Focus. The experts point out one of its main advantages is that it will reduce the danger of the driver being distracted off the road, by having tens of buttons in front of him. This task is hereafter done automatically by verbal commands.

The technology incorporates control systems that already exist in the car such as digital gadgets, smartphones and iPods. The driver is able to have a conversation with Sync asking it to change music or instructions for the road.

According to a test, to change a song on the MP3 player, the driver is forced to take its eyes off the road for 25 seconds, which translates to a distance of 800 meters on the road. However, with the new system the driver is distracted for only 2 seconds.

Original: http://www.real.gr/DefaultArthro.aspx?page=arthro&id=54519&catID=23
 
That's a good read. :D I love Ford.

Stuff like this kind of makes you wonder where cars will be in 50 years.
 
Hasn't this been on around for a while though?
I've been able to talk to a Lexus before. :)
 
Haven't you been able to do this for a while now? I knew someone with an Olds Silhouette that had most of that functionality.
 
This has been done for ages, recently Mini did it with the 50th anniversary Coppers (called mission control) and apparently it was very annoying.



Robin.
 
JCE
Stuff like this kind of makes you wonder where cars will be in 50 years.
Click to expand...

Stuff like this makes me think cars will be available on a store shelf in a really-really-really big blister pack that'll take 2 weeks to cut off.

Voice command sounds nice on a brochure, but aside from any tech quirks, selling this kind of technology runs the same risk as cell phones, PCs, and other electronics. Namely, they become yesterday's news rather quickly...sometimes completely obsolete.

If the reason you buy a car is the touch screen thingy, blue-teeth, or any other electronic gizmo; you're going to be disappointed when the next best thing comes out...won't you? I don't see the honeymoon being very long if the only thing you lust about the car is being able to access the same crap you can do on your smart phone, your tablet, your laptop, your workstation, and your home PC.
 
^Agreed, but as an addition it sure is nice (provided it is implemented well) and will gradually become a standard for most cars and every car lacking it will be in a disadvantage. Similar to the course of A/C, hydraulic steering and more recently the on-wheel functionalities. For mainstream cars at least.
 

Latest Posts

Back