It takes meticulous testing to ensure in-car technology and in-vehicle infotainment always speaks the driver’s language.
As vehicles become smarter, drivers depend more and more on the digital ‘brain’ behind the dashboard. This technology, now found within many vehicles on the road today, is as crucial to the driver’s safety and comfort as the vehicle’s engine or wheels.
So, when our voices activate in-car technology, there is no room for misunderstanding.
The Challenge
A global leader in engineering and R&D services, with 52 operational centers around the world, is at the cutting edge of design and development in areas such as 5G, artificial intelligence, collaborative robots, digital manufacturing, and autonomous transport.
For this innovative multinational, no industry or location is off limits. Discover their pioneering solutions throughout the manufacturing chain in sectors as diverse as medical devices and transportation, telecoms, and petrochemicals.
To meet rising consumer demand, the company has recently moved into automotive infotainment systems. Enriching the in-vehicle experience without compromising safety or regulatory compliance is a fast-growing and rapidly evolving field.
To ensure accuracy and safety, all communication between the driver and the technology must be precise and unambiguous. Because products are designed for speakers of a wide variety of languages around the world, the system’s development process must include thorough testing carried out by native speakers.
As a result, the company needed a team of native speakers of the following languages:
- Arabic
- Cantonese (Traditional)
- Dutch
- French
- German
- Italian
- Japanese
- Korean
- Mandarin (Simplified)
- Mexican Spanish
- Russian
- Spanish
- Thai
- Turkish
The team of “speech testers” spoke for more than 6 hours as they put the infotainment systems through their paces.
While assembling a group of speech testers with the necessary skills for the job was a challenge, having to carry out the work at specially prepared centers in India made the task even more taxing.
As a result, the company contacted Summa Linguae Technologies (SLT). With expertise in handling native-language product testing, we soon prepared a reliable solution.
The Solution – In-Car Technology Speech Testing
SLT hired a dedicated team of native-language speakers to complete the project. The necessary tools and equipment were set up in two sites in India: Mumbai and Bangalore. The speech testers were then transported to one of these locations.
Time was further saved by optimizing the project’s resources and procedures to deliver the required standards without incurring lengthy training delays.
Each team member was then assigned the following tasks:
- Test the speech characteristics of the infotainment unit by issuing commands in their native language
- Log the system’s behavior
- Produce a set of error statistics
- Feed these findings back to the development team
- Verify and validate error correction
The Outcome
Our solution therefore succeeded in providing the client with:
- A comprehensive, one-stop solution delivered at short notice that fulfilled all the project’s requirements
- Lower costs, due to the efficient use of native resources
“Assembling a capable team of native-language speakers across multiple sites within the required time is quite an undertaking,” says SLT’s Head of Managed Services APAC, Sangeetha V.
“But, on top of that, the client didn’t have the required tools and support services in the chosen locations. Fortunately, SLT was able to overcome these challenges and implement an effective solution without delay.”
To learn more about how Summa Linguae can support your native-language product testing needs for in-car technology and otherwise, check out our Managed Services.
