Automatic Speech Recognition System Considerations for the Autonomous Vehicle

As automakers begin to design the autonomous vehicle (AV) for the first time, they must reconsider customer interaction with the Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) system carried over from the traditional vehicle. Within an AV, the voice-to-ASR system needs to be capable of serving a customer located in any seat of the car. These shifts in focus require changes to the microphone selection and placement to serve the entire vehicle. Further complicating the scenario are new sources of noise that are specific to the AV that enable autonomous operation. Hardware mounted on the roof that are used to support cameras and LIDAR sensors, and mechanisms meant to keep that hardware clean and functioning, add even further noise contamination that can pollute the voice interaction. In this paper, we discuss the ramifications of picking up the intended customer’s voice when they are no longer bound to the traditional front left “driver’s” seat. Considerations are made to the possibilities of new microphone construction and layouts to provide coverage for all potential passengers, and cost-efficient minimal microphone packages are discussed. Additionally, if the automaker chooses to initiate the ASR interaction with a “wake up word”, instead of installing Push to Talk (PTT) buttons for every seat, we discuss how the multiple microphone’s placements can be leveraged to identify the seat issuing the command, and focus further ASR interactions with that location in the car.