Gothenburg, Sweden - More than 30 years after the popular American TV show Knight Rider showed David Hasselhoff talking to his car, Volvo and Microsoft are launching a voice-control system you can wear on your wrist.
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Are you ready for when your car needs you?
It's called, rather prosaically, Microsoft Band 2, and it lets you talk to your car via Volvo's mobile app, Volvo on Call. You can instruct it to pre-set the navigation system, start the heater (or the aircon in sunnier climes) lock the doors, flash the lights or sound the hooter.
Which, in a crowded car park, is almost as good as saying, “Kitt, come and get me!”
Volvo's first high-profile collaboration with Microsoft was an automotive application of HoloLens - a completely wireless holographic computer - in November 2015, which could redefine how we find, explore and even buy cars online.
Volvo chief information officer Klas Bendrik said: “We're not interested in technology for the sake of technology. If it doesn't make a customer's life simpler, safer or more fun, we won't use it.
“But let's face it - who hasn't dreamed of talking to their car via their wristwatch?”
Connectivity to a Volvo on your Microsoft Band 2 will become available in the second quarter of 2016 in markets where Volvo on Call is enabled. Sadly that does not include South Africa.
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