Tele Atlas Takes Mercedes Navigation Closer to Conversation
Latest Linguatronic navigation from Harman/Becker uses Tele Atlas Voice Maps to identify city, town and street names throughout nominated country
September 07, 2007 – Gent, Belgium – The long-standing partnership between Tele Atlas (FSE: TA6, EUNV: TA), a leading global provider of digital maps and dynamic content for navigation and location-based solutions, and Harman/Becker Automotive Systems with its speech group, globally supplying speech processing technology and products to the automotive industry, has delivered a significant advance in voice controlled navigation for the new Mercedes C-Class vehicles and set a new standard for this automotive segment.
The navigation function recognizes the names of all cities, towns, streets and even Points of Interest (POIs) in any of eight European countries, as nominated by the purchaser. Stored sentences such as “Go to office” make regular destinations even easier.
Voice-operated navigation in the Audio 50 APS system, available from July 2007 for the Mercedes C-Class, is a function of the optional Linguatronic voice-operated control system for audio, telephone and navigation from Harman/Becker. A single button push initiates speech recognition for the driver to specify navigation, audio or telephone, including address book with direct speech input of contact names. Selecting navigation, the driver can state requirements using whole words and phrases for all entries. Text-to-speech technology enables the Linguatronic system to reply with questions and confirmations.
Continuing advances in the speech recognition technology of Harman/Becker Automotive Systems, mean many more synonyms are accepted, such as: enter destination, destination entry, destination input, enter address, enter town, enter city, enter name of city, enter street, enter road, etc. At the same time, hesitant “ums”, “ahs” and “ers” are filtered out. A speaker adaptation function further optimizes the speech recognition to the characteristics of the driver.
“The Tele Atlas Voice Maps products, as used by Harman/Becker, are the most comprehensive and precise on the market,” says Luc Peirlinckx, Director Program Management Phonetic Topographics at Tele Atlas. “They are integrated with the Tele Atlas MultiNet database and hence the phoneme data is fully aligned and ready with each new MultiNet edition to maintain freshness of data. Detailed linguistic development ensures the recognition of virtually all variants in end-user pronunciation and enables solution providers to deliver the clearest, most informative vocal instructions available. We actively support our partner’s efforts to deliver robust speech-enabled applications by employing a dedicated, in-house linguistics team, working to ensure compatibility and continuously expanding the content, coverage, and quality of our vocal data.”
Purchasers in Europe can specify full-word recognition for one of the following options: Austria and Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Netherlands and Belgium (in Dutch language), or the United Kingdom. All users can select their language of communication from any of six language options: German, UK-English, French, Spanish, Italian and Dutch. Each navigation system is delivered with a DVD carrying the full Tele Atlas map data for Western and Eastern Europe.
About Tele Atlas
Tele Atlas delivers the digital maps and dynamic content that power some of the world’s most essential navigation and location-based services (LBS). The information is the foundation for a wide range of personal and in-car navigation systems and mobile and Internet map applications that help users find the people, places, products, and services they need, wherever they are. The company also works with business partners who trust its digital map data to deliver critical applications for emergency, business, fleet, and infrastructure services. Through a combination of its own products and partnerships, Tele Atlas offers digital map coverage of more than 200 countries and territories worldwide. The company was founded in 1984 and today has approximately 2,400 full-time staff and contract cartographers at offices in 24 countries and uses a sophisticated network of professional drivers, mobile mapping vans, and more than 50,000 data resources to deliver highly accurate and up-to-date digital maps. Tele Atlas is listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (TA6) and on Euronext Amsterdam (TA). For more information, visit www.teleatlas.com.
About Harman/Becker Automotive Systems
Harman/Becker Automotive Systems is the automotive division of Harman International, Inc. Harman/Becker provides leading-edge entertainment, information and communication systems for the automotive industry and the aftermarket. Harman International Industries, Incorporated (www.harman.com) is a leading manufacturer of high-quality, high-fidelity audio products and electronic systems for the consumer and professional markets. The company’s stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “HAR.”
© 2007 Harman International Industries, Incorporated. All rights reserved. Harman/Becker and Harman International are trademarks of Harman International Industries, Incorporated, registered in the United States and/or other countries.
For further information, please contact:
Dirk Snauwaert
Public Relations Director, Tele Atlas Europe
Phone: +32 475 69 30 97
dirk.snauwaert@teleatlas.com
