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Nissan at CES 2017: Cortana may be coming to infotainment near you
By Product Expert | Posted in Features & Technology, News on Thursday, January 5th, 2017 at 3:35 pm
Nissan and Microsoft Cortana at CES 2017
Not to shake our fists and sound like we’re about to tell you about walking a mile to school in a foot of snow, but most of us here remember a time when cars didn’t have ABS, let alone driver assistance features. To be clear, we’re not saying this is a good thing. No, we love more technology in our vehicles, especially when it’s easier than ever to be distracted by ringing phones and our busy lifestyles. It seems better to have a system that provides the contact you need, and limits what you don’t. Keep off Candy Crush when you’re behind the wheel, right? Well, the 2017 CES is upon us, which means big news from Nissan, coming in the form of a partnership with Microsoft Cortana. What does this mean for future vehicles?
What can Microsoft Cortana do for Nissan infotainment?
One of the more frustrating things about automotive technology is that there seems to be a whole lot of proprietary software development, which means it’s not necessary done to its fullest potential. Windows has been in the software business for a long time, which provides some reassurance that a partnership with Nissan could mean a more intuitive user interface. So what do we know so far?
Nissan first released a teaser video on twitter showing Cortana’s voice activation capabilities in use as a user asks about scheduling events:
Three days until #Nissan‘s keynote at #CES2017! (Just ask #Cortana to remind you…) Catch it on @Twitter or @YouTube: https://t.co/yre8W4jf8F pic.twitter.com/ZMfs4xCem9
— Nissan Motor (@NissanMotor) January 2, 2017
So far, this is all we know for sure. Nissan isn’t take the stage at CES until this evening, which means we’re left waiting with bated breath to find out if this voice recognition software will make it intuitive and easy to go through our lives even when we’re spending far too much time in our cars.
More on Infotainment: 2017 Nissan Maxima Standard with Apple CarPlay
What does Cortana normally do? You’re probably aware that Cortana is the personal assistant for your Windows 10 devices. If this software is integrated into Nissan vehicles, you can expect all your scheduling reminders to be available in your car, so you don’t have to check your phone while you drive. You can set reminders for meetings, but even for your to-do items too. On phones, you can have location-based reminders, so it stands to reason this feature would be present in your car too.
In addition to calendar events and reminders, you can ask Cortana to play songs, search for information, find flight information and a lot more. How many of these features would be integrated into your vehicle? We’re hoping quite a few. We’ll know for sure once Nissan presents, so stay tuned here at the Glendale Nissan Blog for updates.
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