SoundHound Inc.’s Houndify Voice AI Powers In-Car Assistant in Honda’s Newest European Models

The New Honda e and Jazz Cars Feature Voice-Enabled Personal Assistant with Natural Language Capabilities

SANTA CLARA, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–#Auto—SoundHound Inc.^Ⓡ the leading innovator of voice-enabled AI and conversational intelligence technologies, today announced a milestone in its strategic partnership with Honda Motor Company with the integration of its Houndify voice AI platform into the new Honda e electric car and the top selling Honda Jazz in Europe. The Honda Personal Assistant—powered by Houndify—gives drivers an in-car conversational interface allowing them to control their environment, while accessing navigation, entertainment, and information hands-free. The personal assistant supports five major European languages.

Houndify voice AI includes patented Speech-to-Meaning^Ⓡ and Deep Meaning Understanding™ technologies to deliver unprecedented speed and accuracy in voice recognition and responses. The platform’s ability to understand context, such as the user’s location or previous queries, eliminates the need to repeat information and allows more natural conversations.

Through the power of Houndify’s voice AI, drivers and passengers can ask Honda Personal Assistant even the most complex questions, such as: “OK Honda, show me restaurants within five kilometers, except French and Japanese ones, that have Wi-Fi, have at least three stars, and are open past 10 pm.” Houndify’s ability to remember context allows for useful follow-up questions, such as “Does it have parking?” The natural language interface can proactively prompt for the next step, like directions to the destination. Deep navigation integration allows drivers to further the experience by asking questions such as, “Are there any convenience stores along the way?”

“Honda e is the first fully electric vehicle to feature Houndify’s voice AI platform, and Jazz is one of Honda’s most popular cars in Europe,” said Keyvan Mohajer, CEO and co-founder of SoundHound Inc. “We are proud of our partnership with Honda Motor Company and look forward to the growing use of the Honda Personal Assistant in Europe.”

SoundHound Inc. and Honda Motor Company first announced their partnership in October 2018 and premiered their collaboration at the 2019 Tokyo Motor show, where they demonstrated the Honda Personal Assistant to positive reviews.

The voice-enabled Honda Personal Assistant is available on Honda e and select Honda Jazz models in French, German, Spanish, Italian, and English languages.

To learn more about Honda Personal Assistant, powered by Houndify, visit SoundHound Inc.’s Speech-to-Meaning blog.

Developers interested in exploring Houndify’s independent voice AI platform can visit Houndify.com to learn more and register for a free account.

About SoundHound Inc.:

SoundHound Inc. turns sound into understanding and actionable meaning. We believe in enabling humans to interact with the things around them in the same way we interact with each other: by speaking naturally to mobile phones, cars, apps, TVs, smart speakers, and every other part of the emerging ‘connected’ world. Our consumer app, Hound, leverages our Speech-to-Meaning^Ⓡ and Deep Meaning Understanding™ technologies to create a groundbreaking smartphone experience, and is the first product to build on the Houndify platform. Our SoundHound App applies our technology to music, enabling people to discover, explore, and share the music around them, and even find the name of that song stuck in their heads by singing or humming. Through the Houndify platform, we aim to bring voice-enabled AI to everyone and enable others to build on top of it. We call this Collective AI. Our Mission: Houndify everything.