Photo: Skoda
The world of in-car personal assistants is not a very imaginative one. Following Google's example, most have chosen dull phrases as triggers for the assistant to pay attention. Usually, those phrases contain the word "OK" followed by whatever the name of the carmaker that developed it is. But not in Skoda's case.
The Czech carmaker has been building some exciting new cars recently, and it was only natural for the innovative design and powertrains to be paired with all the most recent top-of-the-range technologies.
This week, Skoda said the Kamiq SUV and the new Scala would be offered with a brand new personal assistant called Laura. And that's not just the stage name, but the activation phrase as well: saying OK Laura will prompt the AI into existence.
Laura is a polyglot and understands commands, even in natural speech (that is it needs no predetermined phrases to act on a request), in six languages: English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, and of course Czech. And it will understand you even if you speak in dialects of the said languages.
As all other personal assistants out there, Laura can do a variety of things, from starting navigation to finding songs or take dictation for a text message. In the future, other capabilities will become available, such as control over some of the car's systems.
Further down the line, Skoda plans to take Laura outside of the car and allow her to help out customers in both mobile and web apps, including on the carmaker's configurator.
What's important to note is that Laura will not be offered with each and every Kamiq or Scala sold. It comes as an extra function of the Amundsen infotainment system with included eSIM card, which basically means top of the range and most expensive.
Just make sure when using it your wife doesn't hear you speaking to a certain Laura.
This week, Skoda said the Kamiq SUV and the new Scala would be offered with a brand new personal assistant called Laura. And that's not just the stage name, but the activation phrase as well: saying OK Laura will prompt the AI into existence.
Laura is a polyglot and understands commands, even in natural speech (that is it needs no predetermined phrases to act on a request), in six languages: English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, and of course Czech. And it will understand you even if you speak in dialects of the said languages.
As all other personal assistants out there, Laura can do a variety of things, from starting navigation to finding songs or take dictation for a text message. In the future, other capabilities will become available, such as control over some of the car's systems.
Further down the line, Skoda plans to take Laura outside of the car and allow her to help out customers in both mobile and web apps, including on the carmaker's configurator.
What's important to note is that Laura will not be offered with each and every Kamiq or Scala sold. It comes as an extra function of the Amundsen infotainment system with included eSIM card, which basically means top of the range and most expensive.
Just make sure when using it your wife doesn't hear you speaking to a certain Laura.
Google News