Fancy owning an interactive owner’s manual that will be able to provide relevant answers to your questions concerning the automobile’s inner workings? Well, Audi has just the thing for you with their Virtual Co-driver System, also known as AviCoS, where it will be deployed in all new Audi models. This particular interactive owner’s manual will rely on a video avatar to get the message across, while voice recognition software has been thrown into the mix to provide a virtual mechanic so that you can receive relevant advice whenever you (and your Audi) is in a fix.
Relying on the wonders of artificial intelligence, AviCoS will be able to interpret questions asked by the vehicle occupants, answering in spoken language. I expect the interaction to be rather weird at first, where it will certainly take some getting used to, but at least you get far more visual help compared to a printed user’s manual as you can now view descriptive images or videos on-screen, where the avatar will also point to the relevant areas during an explanation for added emphasis.
The multitouch interface also helps enhance AviCoS’ assistance – should you be unfamiliar with a particular control element, all you need to do is touch that bit and the avatar will get to work, delivering relevant background information on that particular function.
As an added measure of safety, whenever you put the pedal to the metal, animations will be suppressed, followed by all graphical output so that you won’t be distracted. Good thing voice communication with the avatar is maintained at all times. I do hope to see avatars from franchises such as Star Wars appearing, imagine Yoda giving you all sorts of Jedi advice on how your handbrake works.
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