Hey Alexa, start my car...

[redpoint5]

Originally Posted by Cd

Oh cool ! I was actually going to ask you folks that have a Prius if you can have commands like this using the Prius voice recognition system.

I did see the buttons on the steering wheel, but I don't think you can do anything like I mentioned.

Getting back to Alexa, I would have thought that you could choose from a list of names.
What happens if there is a person in the house that also has the same name ?

I never use voice commands with the Prius, although I might explore the capability more now that you mention it. My Acura was pretty good at deciphering commands, and you could control climate settings as well as make phone calls.

Steering wheel controls are very handy. I use 'em for cruise, stereo, and temperature control

Voice appliances are still to new to be as useful as they can be. Not being able to choose your own key-phrase is a problem. What I find even more bothersome is the inability of these devices to distinguish who is talking. Everyone has their own smart phones these days along with their own calendar and contacts. The smart appliances can only connect to 1 account, and if someone else asks the appliance to add something to the calendar, it puts it in that 1 account.

Originally Posted by ksa8907

I made the observation a while back, even if everything every person on this planet ever said was recorded, what good would it do? It would take someone or possibly software to sort through it.

That's the real danger; being categorized by algorithms that lack the ability to consider context or nuance. I'm ineligible to take advantage of airline Pre-check due to an algorithm that has already excluded me, with no human consideration or thought process to back that decision.

[freebeard]

ksa8907 — John Gilmore quotes:

"If you're watching everybody, you're watching nobody."

The essence of "watching" or "looking" is focusing your attention. If you diffuse your attention to encompass everything, you end up missing everything. This is exactly what the US Government is doing with its police-state tactics (searching everyone who travels; fingerprinting every foreigner who is stupid enough to arrive; etc). I said this in a message to Declan McCullagh's "Politech" list in March 2003.

"That's the kind of society I want to build. I want a guarantee -- with physics and mathematics, not with laws -- that we can give ourselves real privacy of personal communications."

Another memorable part of my speech on Privacy, Technology and the Open Society from the First Conference on Computers, Freedom and Privacy

"The Net interprets censorship as damage and routes around it."

In its original form, it meant that the Usenet software (which moves messages around in discussion newsgroups) was resistant to censorship because, if a node drops certain messages because it doesn't like their subject, the messages find their way past that node anyway by some other route. This is also a reference to the packet-routing protocols that the Internet uses to direct packets around any broken wires or fiber connections or routers. (They don't redirect around selective censorship, but they do recover if an entire node is shut down to censor it.)

The meaning of the phrase has grown through the years. Internet users have proven it time after time, by personally and publicly replicating information that is threatened with destruction or censorship. If you now consider the Net to be not only the wires and machines, but the people and their social structures who use the machines, it is more true than ever.

[Frank Lee]

Still don't know why getting in a vehicle, inserting a key in the lock, and turning it is so much to ask.

[jakobnev]

Dave: "Alexa, pre-warm my car for me for 10 minutes."
Alexa: "I'm sorry Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that."

[jamesqf]

Originally Posted by Frank Lee

Still don't know why getting in a vehicle, inserting a key in the lock, and turning it is so much to ask.

Not to mention that it's so much easier. Likewise having physical controls for things instead of stupid touchscreens - ever see a touchscreen that works when you're wearing gloves, for instance?

As for voice controls, I just don't understand why anyone but the tech-obsessed would want that. Bad enough that so many customer service phone lines have converted to unusable voice recognition from the simple (if sometimes tedious) menu systems.

[vskid3]

Originally Posted by jamesqf

Not to mention that it's so much easier. Likewise having physical controls for things instead of stupid touchscreens - ever see a touchscreen that works when you're wearing gloves, for instance?

My Prius' does, because it's resistive. A lot of gloves sold now are compatible with capacitive touchscreens, too. Only advantage I see for a touchscreen is it can be changed so more features can be packed into a small space. Buttons are much nicer to actually use; fortunately the Prius has most of the climate controls as buttons on the steering wheel in addition to the touchscreen.

[redpoint5]

Originally Posted by jamesqf

Not to mention that it's so much easier. Likewise having physical controls for things instead of stupid touchscreens - ever see a touchscreen that works when you're wearing gloves, for instance?

As for voice controls, I just don't understand why anyone but the tech-obsessed would want that. Bad enough that so many customer service phone lines have converted to unusable voice recognition from the simple (if sometimes tedious) menu systems.

How is inserting a key easier than doing nothing? I simply grab the door handle, it unlocks, and I get in. Then I press the Start button, select a "gear" (direction of travel), and go. To lock the car, I touch the door handle as I'm walking away.

The only advantage I see of having a physical key is that it gives more of a reason to open the passenger door for a lady. I still open the door for my wife, but it's kinda pointless when you can unlock all doors at once from a distance.

As for the touchscreen responsiveness issues; that's simply another advantage of having voice recognition.

Touch screens are cheaper for the manufacturer than buttons for vehicles that already require a screen for the backup camera. Sure, physical buttons are better, but they are more expensive, and cannot be moved around and changed as needed.

[Frank Lee]

Originally Posted by redpoint5

How is inserting a key easier than doing nothing?

When, not if, the stupid thing malfunctions.

[Lemmy]

A waste of resources and materials. Finding solutions to problems that no one knew existed.

[redpoint5]

Originally Posted by Frank Lee

When, not if, the stupid thing malfunctions.

The car will be in a scrapyard well before the electronic door locks fail, probably from someone hitting and totalling it.

I've had malfunctions with physical keys, but never with electronic locks. Everything from water freezing in them, to a girlfriend breaking a key off in one, to a thief using a dent puller to try and yank the lock out, which ruined the pins and made my key unable to turn the tumbler (fixed by taking the tumbler out, inserting the key, and using a bench grinder to grind pins flush with tumbler).

Newer Japanese cars are very reliable, including all the accessories. The only thing I've had fail in the past 15 years is a catalytic converter (Subaru). Most of Oregon doesn't smog, so I didn't fix it. My 1998 Dodge Ram is a different story. It would be quicker to list the things that haven't failed, which is the frame and the Cummins motor. The funny thing is, that truck has no options (manual windows, manual door locks, manual seats).