Despite doubts that Apple's favorite personal assistant would be hitting the road anytime soon, General Motors has unveiled a Siri button of sorts for its upcoming Chevrolet line-up. And while she might make driving in this country a lot safer, Siri's still a step away from the ultimate driving gadget.
Hooking up your Siri-compatible iPhone with Chevy's new Spark and Sonic models through the steering wheel controls will, indeed, let all that voice activated personal-assistant fun we find on our phones make its way into our cars. We could see this coming in handy to make some hands-free calls, or sending texts, or hearing about restaurant options in the area while on the road. Here's how General Motors thinks it will improve driver experience, from the company press release:
- Make voice-activated, hands-free calls to Contacts on their iPhone
- Play songs in the iTunes library, and even switch music sources automatically from AM/FM/XM radio to iPod mode
- Listen to, and compose and send an iMessage or text message to a phone number or anyone in saved Contacts
- Access Calendar and add appointments
- Minimize distraction even more by keeping the screen of the iPhone from lighting up, even when Siri answers simple questions such as game scores or the dates of national holidays
- While in Eyes Free mode, Siri will not provide answers to complex questions that require displaying a web page.
It looks like this could making driving a bit easier for people who like to talk and drive without breaking the law, what with texting-and-driving coming under such scrutiny over the past year. But imagine how much more useful this would be if Siri hooked up to the maps (a rumor that has yet to come true). It would turn an iPhone into a veritable GPS system.
No comments:
Post a Comment