OnStar and SpeechWorks Reach Agreement
OnStar To Use SpeechWorks' Speechify Text-To-Speech Engine For Virtual Advisor
TROY, MI -- OnStar, the leader in in-vehicle communications services, and SpeechWorks , a leader in the speech technology industry, today announced an agreement to use SpeechWorks' Speechify
OnStar Virtual Advisor combines wireless technology with state-of-the-art voice recognition to deliver Web-based information - such as e-mail, stock quotes, news and sports updates, entertainment, and weather conditions - all in a hands-free, voice-activated environment with no screens or displays.
As OnStar continues to grow its service offering on the Virtual Advisor, it also works to improve the overall consumer interaction with the Virtual Advisor. The Speechify software will help improve the subscriber experience by providing a new text-to-speech processor for Virtual Advisor, delivering e-mail to subscribers in their vehicles with an easy-to-understand, pleasant male or female voice. SpeechWorks' technology is used by many large consumer-oriented companies to enhance the customer experience while expanding access to information over any phone, including wireless. OnStar and SpeechWorks may also collaborate on future Virtual Advisor enhancements.
"SpeechWorks is one of the recognized leaders in speech technology," said Don Butler, executive director of OnStar Virtual Advisor. "We're pleased to leverage their expertise in the speech field and bring their text-to-speech product to our subscribers through the Virtual Advisor."
"SpeechWorks Speechify engine has brought text-to-speech to a new level of naturalness and intelligibility," said Mark Plakias, senior vice president of voice and wireless commerce at the Kelsey Group. "OnStar's Virtual Advisor is the most important telematics platform for bringing voice to the mass market and we are delighted to see SpeechWorks along for the ride."
"We are excited to be working with OnStar to provide information to its more than one million subscribers," said Steve Chambers, vice president of worldwide marketing, SpeechWorks. "SpeechWorks' technologies are proven in a wide variety of call environments, particularly wireless, and we are honored to be part of such a successful consumer application and look forward to our partnership with OnStar."
