Skip to main content

Voice recognition still a top problem says report

Speaking in a presentation at the annual Management Briefing Seminars of the Center for Automotive Research, held in Traverse City, Michigan, Kristin Kolodge, J.D. Power’s executive director of driver interaction claimed that in-car voice recognition systems work so poorly that automakers should give up trying to add new features and go back to the basics. According to the consulting firm’s annual Initial Quality Study of vehicle models sold in the United States, voice activation was identified as the mo
August 12, 2014 Read time: 2 mins
Speaking in a presentation at the annual Management Briefing Seminars of the Center for Automotive Research, held in Traverse City, Michigan, Kristin Kolodge, J.D. Power’s executive director of driver interaction claimed that in-car voice recognition systems work so poorly that automakers should give up trying to add new features and go back to the basics.


According to the consulting firm’s annual Initial Quality Study of vehicle models sold in the United States, voice activation was identified as the most common type of malfunction.
Twenty-three percent of problems reported were related to audio, communication, entertainment or navigation. One-third of those infotainment complaints were caused by voice recognition, Kolodge said.

Kolodge noted that in-car systems often don’t work as well as voice recognition systems in smart phones. Part of the problem, she acknowledged, was that in-car systems are vulnerable to road noise, engine noise and passenger conversations.

Automakers should focus on the most basic functions, such as phone calls, navigation and audio and make sure those work well before adding other functions.

For other vehicle parts, a high defect rate would be unacceptable, she noted, "yet somehow it’s acceptable for voice recognition, and it’s been acceptable for years. We’ve got to get back to the basics.”

Related Content

  • One eye on the future
    December 12, 2013
    Mobileye’s Itay Gat discusses the evolution of monocular solutions for assisted and autonomous driving with Jason Barnes. Founded in 1999, Israeli company Mobileye manufactures and supplies advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) based on its EyeQ family of systems-on-chips for image processing for solutions such as lane sensing, traffic sign recognition, vehicle and pedestrian detection. Its products are used by both the OEM and aftermarket sectors. The company’s visual interpretation algorithms drive
  • Shailen Bhatt: 'We want to save lives with connectivity by accelerating V2X deployment'
    December 11, 2023
    US government money is available for Vehicle to Everything roll-outs. FHWA's Shailen Bhatt talks to Adam Hill about changing the narrative on road safety - and the importance of deploying technology at scale
  • MaaS Market London: transport revolution
    June 11, 2019
    ITS International’s third MaaS Market conference in London provoked lively discussions about micromobility, AVs, the stupidity of car drivers - and Star Trek. Adam Hill was taking notes…
  • Veronica O. Davis: "There really has to be a better way"
    November 7, 2023
    Is it possible to change a system whose attitudes seem entrenched? Veronica O. Davis, author of this year’s must-read transport book Inclusive Transportation, talks to Adam Hill