Natural language understanding brings new personality to the electric version of the classic car
Cerence Inc. (NASDAQ: CRNC), AI for a world in motion, today announced that FCA has selected Cerence to provide conversational AI in the all-new electric Fiat 500, FCA’s first fully electric vehicle. The new Cerence-powered automotive assistant is central to the New 500 as the automaker puts the driver experience front and center.
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Activated with a simple, “Hey Fiat,” the automotive assistant in the New 500 features Cerence’s cutting-edge conversational and interactive AI to deliver voice-powered access to key features like navigation, developed in partnership with TomTom; media and entertainment; phone and messaging; temperature controls; and access to Amazon Alexa®. With natural language understanding from Cerence, the New 500 enables drivers to speak as they would to a friend – “I’m cold.” or “Find me a restaurant near my destination.” – rather than learning specific language to make queries or commands. Barge-in capabilities further enable the human-like experience as drivers can interrupt the assistant to clarify a request or make a selection. Advanced text-to-speech gives the New 500 assistant a natural way of communicating back with drivers and passengers to answer questions and complete requests.
The New 500 assistant also keeps passengers in mind, with voice recognition support for passengers and speech signal enhancement to identify who in the car is speaking. Drivers can also mute certain input zones if, for example, they need to take an important call with passengers in the car.
“The Fiat 500 is an iconic car that has always symbolized optimism and freedom,” said Sanjay Dhawan, CEO, Cerence. “The new electric Fiat 500 perfectly encapsulates Fiat’s heritage while also bringing it to the next generation, where drivers expect simple, natural interaction with their technology.”
