HUDWAY Go version 3.8 with revamped voice assistant
The new Hudway Go version addresses the most frequent problems with Voice assistant. Until now, voice assistant issues have been rather common, and complaints vary, but here are three basic categories we came to distinguish:
- Voice hints are not timely
- Voice assistant wouldn’t work via Bluetooth car system.
- Voice directions on the manoeuvers are incorrect.
We’ve tried to fix the first 2 issues in 3.8 app version.
How did we fix the voice hints not being timely?
We’ve added a new voice settings section. Just tap the route screen and the menu with the new voice icon and current settings will pop up.
Tap this button to see the voice settings section. You will see the new voice assistant mode which is set by default.
Once this mode is enabled, the voice assistant becomes smarter:
- It controls speed limits and calculates the optimal distance to give a new turn hint.
- Joint maneuvers are announced in a new way: if the next two maneuvers come straight one after another, the voice assistant will announce them both in one hint.
- Camera alerts are more detailed now: previously, it would only alert that there is a camera ahead, now it will tell now you the distance to the camera and its type (speed or traffic lights).
- When you’ve finished, the voice assistant will tell you where your destination is: on the left/right, or in front of you.
Our dev team has spent months testing this mode — we studied numerous customer reviews, did a lot of test driving and tried various modifications to hint pronunciation.
For those who liked our previous Voice Assistant mode of operation, when the voice directions were given at a preset distance ahead of a maneuver, we’ve preserved this option: simply select All sounds option to stick to it.
How does it fix the problem of playing the voice hints on the car media?
The users would at times report us that they had problems hearing the voice command when in a vehicle. As it turned out, the majority of them were confused as to where the sound was output.
To address this issue, we’ve added an option to select an audio output in the sound settings section — tap it to select the output source manually:
If you have several output options, the app will depict the active one right in the menu, as a badge over Voice assistant button:
If you do not hear voice hints from the car speakers, please check that you’re using the right output.
We know that Hudway Go voice assistant is not perfect yet, and the voice commands still need corrections, and we will keep working on it in this new year — to make driving with HUDWAY Go more comfortable and enjoyable.
Kirill Frolov, Software architect
HUDWAY
