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SoundHound AI study of vehicle owners also found that 4 out of 5 prospective car buyers in the UK, France, and Germany would now prefer to buy or lease a car with AI features over one without
Santa Clara, CA, October 22, 2024 – SoundHound AI, Inc. (Nasdaq: SOUN), a global leader in voice artificial intelligence, today announced the results of an independent survey of car owners in the UK, France, and Germany, which found that the vast majority of regular drivers – nearly 4 in 5 – are likely to use a voice assistant with voice generative AI capabilities if available.
While most of the drivers surveyed had current access to an in-vehicle voice assistant (78% in the UK, 77% in Germany, 65% in France) — with the majority of those with access using it at least weekly — until now the use cases for these assistants have been relatively contained to in-vehicle controls, navigation, and calls.
Now, new research reveals that European drivers in the countries surveyed are ready for supercharged assistants with new AI-powered capabilities that promise to bring a whole new world of functionality to drivers through natural conversation.
These new voice generative AI functionalities include being able to place food orders and complete other transactions hands-free from the car dashboard, using the assistant instead of a car manual to better understand and operate car features and address maintenance issues, and even using the in-vehicle voice assistant to summarize text or email threads to aid productivity on-the-go.
Key findings:
United Kingdom | France | Germany | All | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Drivers said they were likely to use voice generative AI capabilities in their car if available | 84% | 70% | 82% | 79% |
Would be willing to pay a fee or be served ads to get access | 69% | 71% | 63% | 68% |
The percent of those planning to purchase or lease a vehicle in the next 12 months who would select a car with AI features over one that doesn’t | 83% | 87% | 78% | 83% |
Sophisticated AI-powered voice assistants promise to help drivers and passengers unlock existing vehicle features using only speech, as well as introducing a whole range of new and enhanced capabilities that bring new levels of convenience, practicality, and entertainment to the car.
The report also found that as many as 2 in 5 drivers currently find car features too complicated, with 50% finding common applications like GPS navigation difficult and frustrating.
How can users make the most of voice generative AI capabilities?
The study tested ideas for new and enhanced in-vehicle features for drivers, including:
United Kingdom | France | Germany | |
---|---|---|---|
Interest in AI feature | 72% | 57% | 69% |
United Kingdom | France | Germany | |
---|---|---|---|
Interest in AI feature | 90% | 77% | 88% |
United Kingdom | France | Germany | |
---|---|---|---|
Interest in AI feature | 84% | 68% | 81% |
“This survey data is consistent with what we’ve been seeing from real drivers using voice generative AI out on the road. Over the last 12 months of deployment, it’s become clear that those early users really see the value,” said Mike Zagorsek, COO and Automotive lead at SoundHound AI. “In some cases, we’ve seen voice assistant usage increasing five fold compared to a traditional vehicle voice assistant. That tells us that AI-powered technology is making a significant impact and is here to stay.”
Last year, SoundHound was the first AI company in the world to launch a vehicle assistant with generative AI capabilities.The software is now in production with a range of automakers globally in multiple languages, with the assistant processing multiple millions of queries in the last 12 months.
The company commissioned this new survey from Big Village as part of a strategic program undertaken with Vivaldi to unlock new use cases for the voice generative AI technology and drive value for both OEMs and drivers.
Learn more about SoundHound AI Automotive solutions visit www.soundhound.com/voice-ai-solutions/automotive/.
About SoundHound AI
SoundHound (Nasdaq: SOUN), a global leader in conversational intelligence, offers voice and conversational AI solutions that let businesses offer incredible experiences to their customers. Built on proprietary technology, SoundHound’s voice AI delivers best-in-class speed and accuracy in numerous languages to product creators and service providers across retail, financial services, healthcare, automotive, smart devices, and restaurants via groundbreaking AI-driven products like Smart Answering, Smart Ordering, Dynamic Drive Thru, and Amelia AI Agents. Along with SoundHound Chat AI, a powerful voice assistant with integrated Generative AI, SoundHound powers millions of products and services, and processes billions of interactions each year for world class businesses.
About Big Village
This survey was conducted from September 5-11, 2024 among regular drivers aged 21-65 in France (n=403), Germany (n=400), and the United Kingdom (n=405), who primarily drive cars from model year 2018 or newer.
Big Village Insights is a global research and analytics business uncovering not just the ‘what’ but the ‘why’ behind customer behavior, supporting clients’ insights needs with agile tools, CX research, branding, product innovation, data & analytics, and more. Big Village Insights is part of Bright Mountain Media. Find out more at https://big-village.com/.
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