{"id":36351,"date":"2022-11-17T13:36:26","date_gmt":"2022-11-17T18:36:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/?p=36351"},"modified":"2022-11-17T13:36:26","modified_gmt":"2022-11-17T18:36:26","slug":"bmw-voice-commands","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/?p=36351","title":{"rendered":"BMW Shouldn’t Rely on Voice Controls No Matter How Good They Are"},"content":{"rendered":"

I recently spent some time with just about every new vehicle in BMW\u2019s North American lineup at once. During that sampler platter of Bavarian metal, it quickly became clear that one of BMW\u2019s special dishes of the day was voice controls. Specifically for iDrive 8-equipped cars. And I understand why, as BMW\u2019s newest AI assistant is better than ever before. However, it\u2019s still not good enough, in my opinion.<\/p>\n

While testing out BMW\u2019s new AI assistant, which I used most in the new 7 Series<\/a>, I think I heard 15 different people tell me that it can understand over 600 commands. I heard it constantly. It was clearly one of the brand\u2019s main talking points for the team that day. And it\u2019s true, it can understand a huge number of commands, even sort of obscure ones, like telling the 7 Series\u2019 open its power doors \u201cas far as you can.\u201d That tells the car to open the doors as far as possible, if there\u2019s something obstructing the door from opening all the way. Pretty neat, right? Right. And all of the commands are every bit as useful. However, there\u2019s just one problem\u2014the system has to hear you first.<\/p>\n

I was testing out some of the 7 Series\u2019 new commands in the best case scenario. Car on, parked in a mostly empty parking lot, no noise around me, alone in the car, and while sitting in the driver\u2019s seat. One of the main commands I sampled was asking it to open and close specific doors. And it works brilliantly, once the AI assistant heard and understood me. The problem is, it doesn\u2019t always do that and it isn\u2019t much better at understanding than it was in its previous iteration.<\/p>\n

On several occasions, the system wouldn\u2019t respond to its wake-up command, \u201cHey, BMW.\u201d And on several more occasions, once it did wake up and I gave it a command, it would respond by saying it didn\u2019t understand. Then I\u2019d have to wake it up again and sometimes it wouldn\u2019t work right away.<\/p>\n

Now, that wouldn\u2019t be a big deal in the slightest if BMW wasn\u2019t pushing for voice commands to become the new primary mode of infotainment interaction. But it is. BMW is burying simple things into submenus in the iDrive system, even things as simple as climate functions. Sure, there are some easy climate functions built into the touchscreen but if you want, for example, to adjust the air recirculation or the rear seat climate, you have to click at least two different touchscreen icons to get to them. BMW\u2019s answer is that you can use voice commands and do it without moving your hands. And that\u2019d be great if it worked consistently. There is also the possibility that these were pre-production cars which don\u2019t always come with the latest Operating System updates. But I can\u2019t be sure.<\/p>\n

I think the train of thought behind this is that telling the car to do something seems more luxurious than pressing buttons or turning knobs but it\u2019s not. In fact, it\u2019s the opposite. It\u2019s less premium and less luxurious because it\u2019s slower, less intuitive, and less likely to work. If I want to change the temperature, volume, or complete and function task in my E90 3 Series, I reach over and either press a button and turn a knob. I have the button placement almost memorized, so tasks are completed in a second or two. To use voice commands, I have to say the wake up phrase, wait a second or two while it wakes up and asks me what I want, give it my command, wait another second or two for it to understand and process my command, and then it happens. It\u2019s at least triple the time it takes to just turn a damn knob.\u00a0There\u2019s that old saying \u201cIf you want something done right, you gotta do it yourself\u201d and it couldn\u2019t be truer when it comes to automotive controls. Asking the car\u2019s computer to do something for you is slow, cumbersome, and barely effective.<\/p>\n

BMW will tell you that voice commands are just one way of interacting with the car. There\u2019s the touchscreen (which isn\u2019t any better) and the iDrive controller. Fair enough. However, BMW seems to be phasing the iDrive controller away, given its absence in the new X1. And with BMW\u2019s media push for voice commands, it\u2019s clear the direction the brand wants to go in. And it\u2019s the wrong one, at least in my humble opinion.<\/p>\n

I know I sound like an old man yelling at clouds but I don\u2019t care. I don\u2019t care how good AI assistants get, I don\u2019t care how many commands it can learn, and I don\u2019t care how cool it might be to open the doors by telling the car to open the doors (it is admittedly very cool). Voice commands need to be a gimmicky backup at the most. They should be there to help when the driver absolutely cannot do something with their hands. It\u2019s cool when they work and it\u2019s nice to have them there as a backup. A clever AI assistant is a useful tool in the toolbox. But it shouldn\u2019t be the main one. Because nothing is more premium or more luxurious than expediency and nothing is quicker or more practical than just pushing a flipping button.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I recently spent some time with just about every new vehicle in BMW\u2019s North American lineup at once. During that sampler platter of Bavarian metal, it quickly became clear that one of BMW\u2019s special dishes of the day was voice controls. Specifically for iDrive 8-equipped cars. And I understand why, as BMW\u2019s newest AI assistant […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":36352,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36351","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-industry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36351","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=36351"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36351\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/36352"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=36351"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=36351"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=36351"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}