Volvo and Microsoft Envision the Near Future | VOLVO

VOLVO Voice Control System

Volvo and Microsoft Unveil Voice Control System
Simply tell your destination to a wristband-like voice recognition device, and your car, parked remotely, will automatically set the navigation. It can warm the cabin when it's cold or even sound the horn if necessary. A voice system once confined to fiction makes its real-world debut this spring.

Text by Atsuko SAITO

Volvo: Bridging the Gap Between People and Cars

Volvo and Microsoft have announced a wearable voice control system. This system allows users to issue commands to their car—such as setting navigation, starting the engine or heater, locking doors, and flashing lights—via Volvo's smartphone application "Volvo on Call," using Microsoft's wearable voice recognition device, the "Microsoft Band 2." The Microsoft Band 2, which works with Volvo on Call, is a wristband device from Microsoft that debuted in October 2015, succeeding the first-generation Microsoft Band released in 2014.

In November 2015, the two companies announced a business collaboration to introduce "HoloLens" holographic computing eyewear technology to automobiles for the first time. HoloLens, which projects holographic 3D images onto transparent lenses, overlaying virtual worlds onto the real world before the user's eyes, holds the potential to fundamentally change how cars are chosen and purchased in the future.

Volvo aims to create a simpler, safer, and more enjoyable car lifestyle through cutting-edge technology. The voice control system being put into practical use, preceding HoloLens, is a vanguard of the next-generation automotive technology envisioned by Volvo and Microsoft, poised to foster a new kind of relationship between cars and people.

Voice control via Microsoft Band 2 and Volvo's connectivity services are scheduled to launch in spring 2016 for Volvo on Call users. The introduction date for Japan has not yet been determined.