These days it’s common for drivers to enter a destination into their navigation system while driving — a routine but distracting practice that can put drivers at risk. Nuance speech technology provides a better way, enabling drivers to enter their destination by simply speaking the state, city, street name and house number. Our solutions support the following approaches to voice destination entry:

Step-by-step: The system prompts the driver to enter and confirm the city name, the street name, and the house number in separate steps.

Single Confirmation Address Entry: The system prompts the driver for city name, street name, and house number in separate steps, but confirms all destination information in a single step at the end. This approach shortens the length of the dialog.

One-Shot Destination Entry: This state-of-the-art approach allows the driver to enter the complete address in one utterance to keep the dialog brief and to the point.

Street name read-out is no longer available only on high-end navigation systems. More and more mid-to low-end systems now include this helpful feature. Text-to-speech technology can significantly improve the quality of route guidance by reading out not only turn-by-turn instructions but the names of specific streets included in the route. Street name read-out can be especially helpful in the cases of confusing motorway junctions, complex intersections and roundabouts with multiple exits. Hearing the instruction, “Take the next left onto Devens Parkway,” rather than just “Take the next left” can help drivers avoid the frustration of wrong turns, missed exits, and time wasted getting back on track.

Many newer navigations systems provide real-time traffic information via live satellite connections. This up-to-the-minute data helps drivers to avoid traffic jams caused by accidents or construction, and to dodge hazards posed by road damage, flooding or other dangerous conditions. But reading lengthy alerts on the navigation system display can be distracting, thereby posing a potential hazard in and of itself. Nuance Vocalizer for Automotive uses state-of-the-art text-to-speech technology to read out traffic alerts and other real-time messages without forcing the driver to take his eyes off the road. This capability boosts safety and convenience to get drivers to their destinations faster and free from harm.

While it’s usually possible to enter a destination before taking the car out of “park”, there are a number of navigation system functions that must be performed in response to changing conditions while driving. Adjusting the volume, display brightness, or zoom factor. Finding an alternative route to avoid traffic congestion. Or locating a gas station to fill up the tank. Because these functions are often hidden in a multi-layered menu, the driver has to press multiple buttons on a small touch screen with tiny icons to get the job done. It’s tedious, time consuming, and distracting. Voice commands allow the driver to control navigation system functions simply by speaking. There’s no need to navigate through a complex menu, so the driver can keep his hands on the wheel and his eyes on the road. With voice command and control, drivers take advantage of navigation system functions without jeopardizing safety.

The popularity of POI search is growing by leaps and bounds. Today’s drivers enter a destination by point-of-interest (POI) is almost as often as by address. For optimal safety and convenience, Nuance VoCon 3200 allows drivers to select a POI by voice. The driver can simply speak one of hundreds of category names or one of thousands of POI names without having to navigate through multiple menu layers, scroll within a window, or type on a touch screen. It’s quick, easy and straightforward, enabling drivers to avoid the visual distraction of manual system interaction.