Microsoft drives in-car voice systems

Microsoft is working on a new generation of in-vehicle speech options

Microsoft has teamed up with embedded speech and text-to-voice provider Svox to develop speech technology for use in cars.

A new generation of in-vehicle speech options will be designed to meet the automotive industry's growing demand for complex, multi-lingual and high quality text-to-speech platforms, according to Microsoft.

The companies argue that, working together, they will be able to turn around projects much faster than the typical automotive industry's product development cycle.

Martin Thall, general manager of Microsoft's Automotive Business Unit, said: "Svox text-to-speech enhances the user experience of automotive infotainment systems.

"Our expertise in software for multimedia, entertainment and communications solutions, in combination with Svox's long years of speech technology experience, forms the ideal basis for a successful collaboration."

Svox has developed mixed-lingual speech technology which enables an English voice, for example, to read the name of a Spanish city or a French street with proper pronunciation.

"This is particularly useful for navigation applications where names often originate from a variety of different languages, and mispronunciations can lead to an unpleasant user experience," Thall added.