Converging Technologies: Automotive, Cellular, and Voice Input/Output

The automobile is an integral part of America's lifestyle. Automotive technologies have provided us with family cars, sports cars, economy cars, luxury cars, and many variants. Two new technologies, cellular telecommunications and voice recognition/speech synthesis, can significantly augment automotive technologies to provide even greater opportunities for vehicle personalization. This paper explores some possibilities that emerge when these three technologies are synergistically combined. The key to the successful application of these technologies lies in the ability of the automotive and telecommunications industries to accurately assess the needs of automotive consumers in the 1990's.