Ford Enhances Safety, Convenience with Nuance Speech in New European Car Models

Nuance Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: NUAN), a leading provider of speech solutions, today announced that Ford Motor Company has integrated Nuance speech technologies in new European car models to provide drivers with new levels of safety and convenience when using the car’s phone, navigation and entertainment systems. Nuance speech recognition and text-to-speech technologies will be available across Europe for the Ford C-MAX and Ford Focus starting in December, followed later by the Ford Galaxy, Ford Mondeo and Ford S-MAX. Ford has won customer and industry accolades for their innovative Human Machine Interface (HMI), which helps drivers easily navigate the car’s phone, cruise control and audio systems. The HMI-system in the new Ford models developed by Blaupunkt, the Bosch subsidiary, enables drivers to place calls, enter an address to a navigation system, select a desired temperature, and control the audio system – all with a simple voice command. According to a market survey conducted by Maix Market Research amongst car buyers in Germany, USA and Japan in 2006, 41 percent of the respondents stated that they frequently or occasionally place calls while driving, 20 percent said that they read incoming SMS messages and 76 percent said that they enter or change the destination in their navigation systems while driving. All of these actions are serious causes for driver distraction that can be reduced by using voice commands and text-to-speech. "We recognize the importance of speech technology to make telematics, navigation and infotainment solutions safer and easier to control,” says Joachim Creutzburg, marketing director, Original Equipment from Blaupunkt. "Not only do we offer automotive customers the most advanced speech enabled solutions, our portable navigation solutions in the aftermarket also allow destination entry and control by voice.” Powered by Nuance VoCon®, the industry’s leading embedded speech recognition software, the system increases safety by allowing the driver to keep his hands on the wheel and eyes on the road. In addition, Nuance’s RealSpeakTM text-to-speech software is used to convert text into remarkably high-quality speech for turn-by-turn directions, including street names, within the navigation system. The HMI-system with a Nuance speech-enabled user interface is fluent in English, French, German, Italian and Spanish. Specific features of the HMI-system powered by Nuance speech solutions include: Voice-activated destination entry: Drivers can simply say their destination address instead of having to type it on a keypad. The voice interface reads out all information including street names and traffic information. Voice-activated, hands-free calling: Drivers can simply press the "Push to Talk” button on the steering wheel, and then say the number or the previously enrolled name of the person to call. Voice-activated audio: With command and control of the audio system, drivers can select a radio station by speaking the frequency in natural numbers, e.g. "Frequency 87.5” or by saying a pre-enrolled name of the radio station. Drivers can also control the CD changer and CD/MP3-player by simply saying commands like "Play Track 5,” "Play next CD” or "Shuffle on.” Voice-activated climate control: With command and control of the climate system, drivers can decrease or increase the temperature by speaking commands such as warmer or cooler. "Nuance has a long history of working with Ford,” said Steve Chambers, president of the Mobile and Consumer Services Division at Nuance. "Now with the advanced speech technology in the Blaupunkt navigation solution, we are able to offer Ford customers in Europe a safer alternative to the drivers’ distraction created by navigation systems in cars. With the voice user interface, powered by Nuance Automotive, drivers can keep their eyes on the road and their hands on the wheel to dial their phone, enter an address to the navigation system or control the audio system.” About Nuance Automotive As a leading supplier of speech components to automotive OEMs and vendors, Nuance Communications offers an integrated suite of technologies and services to enable voice-activated dialing, voice destination entry for navigation systems, vehicle command and control, and in-vehicle entertainment systems. The company’s speech recognition and text-to-speech software deliver state-of-the-art performance and a rich set of features and tools tailored for the highly demanding automotive environment. About Nuance Communications, Inc. Nuance is a leading provider of speech and imaging solutions for businesses and consumers around the world. Its technologies, applications and services make the user experience more compelling by transforming the way people interact with information and how they create, share and use documents. Every day, millions of users and thousands of businesses experience Nuance's proven applications. For more information, please visit www.nuance.com. Nuance, the Nuance logo, RealSpeak and VoCon are trademarks or registered trademarks of Nuance Communications, Inc. or its affiliates in the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks referenced herein are the property of their respective owners.