Last week I was driving down Hwy101 at 630 in the evening - headed towards San Francisco, trying to zip through rush-hour traffic (honestly, people don't seem to have realized that gas is almost $5!), juggling a phone call, and trying to cope with the navigation system's (GPS) commands/ demands.
Handsfree/ headset enabled driving became the law in California from July-1. So I was dutifully plugged into my bluetooth set, but it was still hard - mostly because to make a new phone-call I would still have had to hold the phone, scroll through the directory and so on. Suddenly it occurred to me that I wasn't using my phone right - it was a corporate-standard smartphone from Blackberry with voice-recognition! So I turn on the VR, and await instructions from the new lady (for some reason, it's always a female voice - GPS, VR or...!). Unfortunately everytime the VR lady asked for something, e.g. a number/ name to call, the GPS lady would call out - take this exit/ turn left/ bear right/ something-something in 2 miles. These were recognized by the VR lady - as incorrectly pronounced commands! A dysfunctional conversation to say the least. I turned both off, chuckling at the Tower-of-Babel type situation, concentrated on driving to my destination and made my phone-call after I reached.
It was pretty funny, but it was also a situation that I felt the VR lady should've been capable of addressing - after all, the VR software was installed on my phone, and could have simply recognized my voice. It is VR, but not advanced VR. And the GPS lady? There seems to be simply no thinking around the options for more instructions or fewer - based on something like familiarity with route. The thing could recognize that I use a certain section of Hwy101 about 15-20 times every week - and used that information to tone down the instructions on that stretch, and picked up as I reached unfamiliar parts.
Pretty basic, eh? Any other thoughts?
I'm planning to make this an irregularly repeating theme in this blog to explore the possibilities for advancing some of the newer everyday technologies we use in our lives. As always - examples and comments from your experiences are welcome!
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3 comments:
A bad workman blames his tools - and any woman in sight ;-) Same with guys and technology that does not dance to their tune..
Is today silly comment day in the UK? :-P
oh, you are so funny!!
I do have some theories regarding why they use female voices. Shall think about it, and perhaps post my own blog on that :P
I too had my share of traffic on teh 101 and annoying GPS that kept asking me to make a U turn (on the highway, in rush-hour traffic)
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