Apple Wants to Make Siri the Next-Generation Driving Companion

Assistants like Google Assistant and Siri are responsible for running operations, such as playing a specific song, making a phone call, or configuring navigation via voice commands, so drivers wouldn't have to rely on touch input for these actions.

The experience is hands-free, so the digital assistants would listen to the driver for input and then conduct the requested task.

Apple wants Siri to become a next-gen assistant, and a recent patent provides us with an early look at how the company wants to improve its technology in all regards, including when interacting with drivers to perform driving-related operations.

How digital assistants work

Before anything else, let me explain how digital assistants work.

Google Assistants and Siri wait for voice input and can be triggered with a dedicated wake-up phrase. In Siri's case, you must say "Hey, Siri" to launch the digital assistant, after which you can continue with the desired command.

To listen to a specific song on Spotify, you can say something like, "Hey, Siri, play Metallica on Spotify." You'll get visual and audio feedback that Siri is listening to your feedback, along with a response to let you know that the command is being processed.

If everything works correctly and Siri understands your request, the digital assistant should launch Spotify and play Metallica.

Digital assistants support various activities, including playing music, making phone calls, sending text messages, reading your new messages, setting navigation to a desired destination, and much more. All requests begin with the wake-up phrase, and the commands must be sent one by one.

How Apple wants to upgrade Siri

The one-by-one part seems to have sparked Apple's interest in improving Siri. We've known for a while that the iPhone maker was aiming for a conversational experience with Siri – in fact, all tech companies offering digital assistants have been exploring ways to improve their technology in this direction, and a recent patent offers an early look at how the improved version of Siri could work.

The patent is called "natural assistant interaction" and comes with a self-explanatory name. Apple wants Siri to act more like a human being so you won't feel like you're talking to a robot. Siri will get more human responses, and the interaction overall will be more natural.

Siri will always be listening to what you say, so it'll be enough to say its name instead of saying a wake-up phrase. For example, the new-generation version will allow you to say something like "What's the weather today in New York, Siri?" to get the weather forecast for New York.

Additionally, Siri will also support multiple requests in the same command. A command like "Siri, can you send a message to Dad to meet at Burger King at 6 PM and add the event to the calendar?" would request the digital assistant to send your father a message and create a new entry in your calendar.

Combine all these upgrades, and you get a significantly upgraded experience with Siri behind the wheel. For example, the digital assistant allows you to configure navigation, tell you the weather forecast and traffic conditions on the route, share the ETA with a contact, and play some music, all in just one command.

It might sound complicated until you get used to it, but the command could be like "Siri, play my weekend playlist, set the navigation to the office, and share the ETA with my wife. What are the traffic conditions today? Should I expect any rain?"

The digital assistant will still process the requests one by one and provide responses accordingly, but you no longer have to input the commands separately. You can also continue the conversation with further questions related to the replies offered by Siri.

Apple isn't the only company exploring such updates, as Google also wants Google Assistant to offer a more natural conversational experience. Such updates would provide the world with the next-generation assistants, and their arrival is probably a matter of time, especially considering the rapid adoption of ChatGPT-powered technology.

Tech companies and automakers are already exploring ways to integrate ChatGTP assistants in vehicles on the road, so you could soon be able to ask an assistant for information about the car, details about an error code, or even let it make an appointment with the service center for an oil change. Digital assistants will become essential for the driving experience, eventually making software and services a key part of every new car.

I've included Apple's patent in the box after the jump, and you can check it out in full if you want more under-the-hood information and technical details about how the updated version of Siri could work. It's still a patent, though, so you'd better not hold your breath for any debut soon.