Burlington, Mass.— Nuance Communications, Inc. announced Thursday that its automotive voice technologies power BMW ConnectedDrive, which now keeps BMW drivers connected to friends, family and colleagues when they’re on the go. Nuance’s innovative connected text-to-speech technology enables the readout of emails, text messages, Facebook and Twitter status updates, and RSS news feeds, minimizing distractions while allowing drivers to take advantage of BMW’s in-car connectivity features.
BMW ConnectedDrive gives drivers the option to stay connected by simply pushing the ‘Play’ button to have emails, text messages, status updates and newsfeeds read aloud with Nuance’s natural, multilingual and humanlike text-to-speech technology. And because it’s available in up to 14 different languages including US and UK English, German, French, and Italian, drivers around the world are able to stay connected, yet less distracted.
Nuance’s text-to-speech also reads aloud daily, weekly and monthly appointments in their iPhone Calendar as part of the feature of the free BMW Connected app, that lets drivers also listen to streaming Internet radio. The BMW Connected app is accessible as part of BMW’s iDrive Controller.
“Mobile consumers crave constant contact, and often find that they’re immediately disconnected as soon as they enter their car,” said Arnd Weil, general manager and vice president, Nuance Automotive. “Drivers are demanding in-car systems and mobile apps that not only keep them connected, but also minimize manual and visual distractions. Our robust and incredibly natural connected text-to-speech technologies do just that – give drivers more options and more connectivity from anywhere.”
Nuance’s voice technologies have long been available as part of BMW’s infotainment systems supporting a range of capabilities, from simple voice dialing to innovative one-shot destination and music search entry.
Availability
The BMW ConnectedDrive featuring Nuance’s text-to-speech is available in up to 14 different languages.
Today more than 50 million cars and 50 million portable navigation devices feature Nuance industry leading speech technology to enable voice destination entry or speech synthesis for voice guidance. To learn more, please visit http://www.nuance.com/automotive/
