OT: Internet connect cars

[Fairlight]

On Thu, Aug 13, 2015 at 08:18:10PM +0000, Richard Kreiss via Filepro-list
thus spoke:
>
> I think to auto companies have rushed the technology without thinking
> through how it will be used, especially in a moving car.  Drivers would
> need another set of eyes located at the top of their heads so that they
> can see the road while looking down at the screen.  One of these days,
> voice technology will be much improved and the drive might be able to
> say"

My car stereo has BT connectivity, and it refuses to let you access the
contact list or manual dialing on the screen unless the car is stopped.
Well, it says stopped, but you can have it inching forward at like 0.25 m/h
and get it to relent.  But it's actually fairly strict about the phone
functionality.

I've got auxilliary buttons for seek/scan and volume up/down on the
steering wheel, which means that I really only have to go to the main
screen in the center if I want to switch folders on my thumb drive or
something.  (I have a CD player in it, but...CDs...how 1986-2005.)  :)

> "Set temperature to 72 degrees Sat radio on, station 71, volume up 5",  "
> "then after a while say "change to channel 35, volume down 5 Phone Randy"
> "on, call Sam's cell phone                                              "
>
> And these commands will actually work.  

No, no they won't work past the point where the radio is already on.
Voice recognition is really never going to be great in realtime with
ambient noise present.  There are tools which would let you spetrally
select a user's voice, but...yeah, not in realtime.  Look at izotope.com
and check out the RX4 product to see what you're dealing with in terms
of spectral analysis.  Once you've run that gauntlet a few times, you
start to appreciate the problem.  Yes, you can spectral select (and even
remove) a scream from the middle of a street carnival; I've seen such a
demonstration of RX4 on YouTube.  But it's a delicate process, and it
involves decision-making on a level that no AI can possibly do within the
next decade or three.

Hell, you can't even get Dragon Naturally Speaking to work properly without
using a headset, even in a quiet room.  The reflections from the
environment throw it.  I've had better luck with Nuance and Google
recognition on my phones, but my phone is so fickle about it sometimes -
especially for voice unlock - that I don't even bother.  I do dictate
texts, but if there's background noise, it becomes untenable.

> the movie 2012, the ability to say "Car start" with voice recognition
> and only start for those whose voice it recognizes.  Of course this
> would present a problem when the car needs to be parked by a parking lot
> attendant.

Isomorphic voice control, eh?  That old sci-fi trope...  Not sure how
realistic a pipe dream that is.

mark->