LAKE FOREST, CA--July 18, 2012: Voice Assist, Inc. (OTCBB: VSST), an award-winning provider of mobile speech and handsfree solutions, and the University of Kansas Center for Design Research (CDR), announced beginning this Fall, a team of University of Kansas (KU) researchers will collaborate with Voice Assist to analyze the distracted driving market and the potential benefits of using a handsfree, safe driving solution such as Voice Assist. Voice Assist enables drivers to make calls, send or respond to text and e-mail messages and posting to social networks including Facebook and Twitter, all by voice commands from any phone or Bluetooth device, with only one button push to connect to the service.
“The KU Center for Design Research and Voice Assist are both looking at ways to address the problem of distracted driving”
Under the direction of Greg Thomas, professor of design and director of the KU Center for Design Research, students in KU's new Advanced Design Studies 560 class will study the Voice Assist service and provide feedback on its features, usability and the potential impact to driver safety and handsfree legislation.
"The KU Center for Design Research and Voice Assist are both looking at ways to address the problem of distracted driving," Thomas said. "The fact that a company like Voice Assist --which has some of the most innovative voice technology on the market --has partnered with us speaks volumes about the CDR and our reputation in the area of distracted driving."
"We are very impressed with the work that the CDR publishes and the leadership that Greg has shown in the area of distracted driving," said Michael Metcalf, Chairman and CEO, Voice Assist. "It's unfortunate that so many people are injured or killed every year from distracted driving. In fact, according to the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, distracted driving contributes to up to 8,000 automotive accidents every day, that's almost 3 million accidents per year that could be avoided. We believe there are better ways to reduce driver distraction and we are glad to work with Greg and his team to support safer and better driving solutions."
Thomas arranged the KU-Voice Assist collaboration with Michael Metcalf, Voice Assist founder and CEO, last month at the Connected World Conference, where Thomas delivered a keynote address on distracted driving. The partnership is the latest success for the CDR, which was launched in 2011 to foster interdisciplinary collaboration across KU in the area of smart technology and consumer products. A key focus for the CDR so far has been distracted driving and in-car technologies to make driving safer and more enjoyable. Last year, the CDR received national attention for a presentation on Adaptive Information Displays --also called "smart dashboards" --at the Transportation Research Board in Washington, DC.
About University of Kansas --Center for Design Research
The Center is focused on interdisciplinary collaboration in the research and development of consumer products and services. As a working laboratory, it unites KU students and faculty from across diverse disciplines to design imaginative --yet practical --solutions to complex problems. The CDR benefits KU and local/national communities by developing new knowledge to advance design as a tool for strategic innovation, process improvement and customer satisfaction. Modern theory-based methodologies guide team discovery and focus the efforts of designers, engineers, scientists and business professionals in creating innovative products, services, technologies and consumer experiences.
About Voice Assist, Inc.
Voice Assist (OTCBB: VSST) is an award-winning provider of mobile speech solutions designed to be used from any phone and eliminates the need to press buttons on smartphones, tablet PCs or other network-connected devices. Mobile developers and cloud-based service providers can leverage Voice Assist's platform to provide voice access to any application through its rapid application development environment and mobile widgets making it easy to add a powerful voice interface to almost any application. Voice Assist also offers its hands-free safe driving application and CRM-by-voice applications direct to the public and/or through resellers and private label OEM relationships. For more information on the company, visit Voice Assist.
Voice Assist is a registered trademark of Voice Assist, Inc. All rights reserved. All other products and company names herein may be trademarks of their registered owners.
