German Researchers Develop Interactive Owner's Manual With Audi

Scanning through the owner's manual while trying to figure out a new vehicle's operational systems may be ancient history with a new voice-activated multimedia owner's manual developed by German researchers with help from Audi.

The “Avatar-based Virtual Co-driver System,” or AviCoS, provides car owners information on demand.

The multimedia interface employs artificial intelligence to interpret questions voiced by the driver and “speaks” the answers or displays explanations on a liquid-crystal-display monitor on the instrument panel.

The driver can view descriptive images or videos on Audi’s Multimedia Interface screen while an avatar guides him through the systems. Optionally, AviCoS has a “Touch&Tell” mode that allows the user to touch the display to launch an explanation from the avatar.

The multimedia manual is the result of a 3-year research and development project in which the luxury auto maker collaborated with the Technical University of Munich and its Institute of Business Informatics, located in Ingolstadt, Germany, where Audi headquarters is located.

“This is a tool to explain control elements in a quick and easy hands-on way,” Helmut Krcmar, chair of the informatics department at TUMs, says in a statement. “It is particularly useful in unfamiliar vehicles.”

The AviCoS system can be used while driving, he says. But to avoid distraction, animations and graphical displays are suppressed as vehicle speed increases. Voice explanations continue at all speeds.

Researchers say the multimedia manual provides information to drivers quicker and more accurately than a printed version. It also amplifies information provided in conventional manuals.

“The self-explanatory system can be used without training, making it easy to get familiar with the operation of a vehicle,” says Michael Schermann, director-automotive services research group at the Institute for Business Informatics.

Researchers say they plan to enhance the system so it recognizes and adapts to the driver's state of mind.

The next-gen system would allow AviCoS to analyze the driver's tone of voice and speech rhythm to determine if he is challenged by traffic situations. If it were to detect driver stress, it would suppress the screen animations.

Other systems in the car, including navigation, could be modified to give directions earlier and more frequently, the researchers say.

A university spokesman tells WardsAuto the voice-activated vehicle manual is not in any of Audi’s serial cars yet, but it works with the auto maker’s Multimedia Interface screen “and could be rolled out very fast if Audi wants it.”