Connected Car Tech Will Use Biometrics to Offer Personalized Driving Experience

Nuance Communications has announced that its Dragon Drive platform now features advanced voice biometrics capabilities that will work in conjunction with a new virtual assistant. The platform, first unveiled early last year, is a connected car system essentially bringing the user’s automobile into the Internet of Things.

The platform now uses voice recognition to identify the driver of the car, and through a virtual assistant tailors its software experience to the driver in question. Nuance says the virtual assistant – called the Dragon Drive Daily Update – provides “infotainment” services, providing personalized updates on traffic and navigation while also curating music stations, sports scores and other items of interest to the driver.

The platform also allows for mobile integration, thereby allowing users to access their phone via voice while driving. In addition to the benefits of convenience and efficiency, this effectively touchless mobile experience also allows for greater safety in performing such communications while driving.

At the beginning of last year, Nuance made a deal to provide U.S. Bank with its voice biometric technology; it’s interesting to note how quickly the company has progressed into the market of the Internet of Things. It seems fair to speculate that this is only the beginning of many more such extensions of biometric technology into traditionally offline applications.