Navigation Voice Commands

[Midnightsun]

I have been reading how some here have commented here on how poorly the voice commands work however I ran across this.

And here I have to commend Hyundai once again for the easiest-to-use voice controls of any navigation system I have encountered. Just tell it the street and the city where you want to go - in plain language - and it instantly will recommend a route. The exact street address isn’t needed, but can be added later.

Which comes from this review. http://www.autonet.ca/en/2014/07/21/2015-genesis-lacks-only-a-premium-brands-badge

Don't know why the difference in opinion here but it is important note that the Canadian model which they are referring to in this review does not have bluetec or google or any other app device which leads me to believe the issue may be with all those goodies combined into the system causing some bugs. Only way to know is when I get mine to report back but I think I am still about 6 weeks out.

 

[Ernie3647]

Here is my attempt at pursuing this issue which has been the subject of numerous posts.

Thank you for contacting the Genesis Customer Care Center. We appreciate the opportunity to assist you with your concerns with the voice recognition commands in your 2015 Genesis.
We have forwarded your case to the appropriate personnel for additional research. We will contact you when an update to your case is available and look forward to assisting you further. Your patience is appreciated.

Should you require additional assistance, you may also reach us by calling our toll-free customer service number at (877) 378-8727. Our hours of operation are 5:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. Pacific Time Monday through Friday and 6:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Pacific Time Saturdays & Sundays. We have documented your comments. Your case number 6742796 can be referenced if we can provide additional assistance.

Thank you for being a valued member of the growing Hyundai family and thank you for contacting Hyundai Motor America.


-----Original Message-----


Subject: Hyundai Customer Support
6/23/2014 9:25:10 PM Model: Genesis Year: 2015
Comment: The voice commands in the manual for my 2015 Genesis don’t appear to be complete. There’s a command to turn the radio on and no command to it turn it off. For example on my 2011 Genesis the command was “audio off” to turn off any media that was on. Is there a more elaborate list anywhere? Thank You

2nd request
Usable voice commands for 2015 Genesis.
The book is vague on this topic. As stated before no command to shut off audio. More important is the absence of a command to recall a saved route. On my old Genesis (2011) the command was”Navigate” and the name given to the route. I consider this oversight especially necessary as it’s usually used while driving to keep eyes on the road. Please have the decency to respond to this message

 

[Pahaska]

I just received a reply to my similar inquiry yesterday. Here is the reply.
Thank you for contacting the Genesis Customer Care Center. We appreciate the chance to assist you with the voice navigation concern for your 2015 Genesis.

The voice recognition for the 2015 Genesis can be activated by pressing the voice recognition button located to the left on the steering wheel, on the top of the button console immediately to the left of the MODE button. For a diagram of this control console please refer to page 20 of the 2015 Genesis Driver Information System manual. Further Information on the voice recognition system can be located on page 101 of the 2015 Genesis DIS manual.

We do apologize but there is not a command to navigate to the address book directly. However on page 103 of the Genesis DIS manual there is a list of available commands, including the commands to directly call a saved contact by using the voice command Call . This feature will also allow for the use of multiple numbers per contact, by using the voice command Call Office for instance will call the saved contact under the office listing.

By the way, the page numbers referenced do not match my DIS manual.


Talk about dancing around the problem! This is a ridiculous omission in an otherwise top-end navigation system. It is obvious from the text in the manual that it was intended that frequently used addresses should be put into the address book, but then there is no way to access them by voice like in my 2009.

Seems there should be a way to get some higher level eyes on this and hope for an update in the future.

 

[Ernie3647]

I totally agree this is a serious over sight which needs to be addressed.

 

[Ernie3647]

My 2007 Infiniti G has an exceptional voice recognition system with a very large vocabulary it even controls the HVAC system. I think part of that performance has to do with the initial voice learning session it requires so it understands your voice and its nuances. That said my 2011 Genesis was quite acceptable though not quite as elaborate as my G. it did everything I needed it to do. Let’s face it what are some of the important commands needed. You know the ones that you would probably use while driving. For instance I used to able to shut the audio media off by command “audio off”. I know it’s just a simple matter to push the button, not so much of an inconvenience. The area where new system really falls short is in the inability to call up a route verbally by name. I consider this a big oversight. A few of us have discussed this omission in our posts. I and a few others being frustrated with such a obvious oversight have emailed customer service with unsatisfactory on no satisfaction at all. It’ inconceivable that such a well executed design could be handicapped with such a limited system. I would like to have the system in my 2011 in my new car that would work. Let’s see if it can and will addressed with a simple software update.

 

[Pahaska]

As a long-time programmer and system designer, going clear back to the 1950s, I am sure this could be accomplished with a software update. Every basic function is already there for the phone; it just requires putting Humpty-Dumpty together with a code-word.

I'm amazed at this flaw in what should be the top-end navigation system.

 

[LA Genesis]

How do each of you find the voice recognition works overall? There have been posts complaining about the voice system not being to change the radio channel or being unable to enter a street address using voice commands. Is that an issue for most people?

Also have any of you had issues with the radio/nav rebooting for no apparent reason?

 

[ckon]

As a long-time programmer and system designer, going clear back to the 1950s, I am sure this could be accomplished with a software update. Every basic function is already there for the phone; it just requires putting Humpty-Dumpty together with a code-word.

I'm amazed at this flaw in what should be the top-end navigation system.

Which brings up a good point: I'd like to see Hyundai, seeing as how the Genesis is a premium car, start offering or giving regular updates to the software (not maps), lets say, of the gps or any other system that would benefit. My camera gets firmware updates - so does my dvd player and my AppleTV, my receiver, etc., well you get my point. You shouldn't have to buy the next model year to improve little oversights in the programming of any product - especially a pramium motorcar. IMO, the perception of added value would pay for itself in additional resale value.

 

[Pahaska]

Mine seems to understand me fairly well. Unfortunately, I used very few voice commands in my 2009 except "Navigate to XYZ" and that is the function that is missing. I used the 2009 navigation system a lot to give me handy reminders to stop at places like CVS instead of remembering that I wanted to stop there just after I rolled by.

At 82, I liked those little reminders. I can still put them in from the address book listing, but not safely while driving.

 

[ksoze]

Which brings up a good point: I'd like to see Hyundai, seeing as how the Genesis is a premium car, start offering or giving regular updates to the software (not maps), lets say, of the gps or any other system that would benefit.

No one gives regular software updates in cars, premium or not. And for good reason, besides the economic ones.

Every code change introduces the chance to break something else and in cars which are more regulated how they are updated, unless its a safety hazard or major functionality issue, an update will not occur often. For many of the in-car systems, they may also be using or calling on multiple programs from another companies which then involve potential issues with other systems.

As an example. Apple can provide updates more often because they control their entire ecosystem - they don't have to worry about breaking someones else's stuff and also don't have the liability issues that automobiles do.

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[ckon]

No one gives regular software updates in cars, premium or not. And for good reason, besides the economic ones.

Every code change introduces the chance to break something else and in cars which are more regulated how they are updated, unless its a safety hazard or major functionality issue, an update will not occur often. For many of the in-car systems, they may also be using or calling on multiple programs from another companies which then involve potential issues with other systems.

As an example. Apple can provide updates more often because they control their entire ecosystem - they don't have to worry about breaking someones else's stuff and also don't have the liability issues that automobiles do.

I understand and generally agree with you in a lot of the cases, but in situations where, say for instance the voice commands are incomplete, or contain errors, it doesn't seem like the issues you mention would apply. An update to the voice software in that case seems like it could/would be restricted to only the issues involved. Do you envision any problems under those circumstances?

 

[ksoze]

Hard to tell - nothing is ever easy in software. We don't know whose software it is and Hyundai may need to wait for the developer to make changes before they can test and implement if it is not an in-house system. It is like nav maps - Hyundai is at the mercy of the Map data company if there are errors or things are out of date.

 

[ckon]

Hard to tell - nothing is ever easy in software. We don't know whose software it is and Hyundai may need to wait for the developer to make changes before they can test and implement if it is not an in-house system. It is like nav maps - Hyundai is at the mercy of the Map data company if there are errors or things are out of date.

Understood. We can only hope.

 

[Ernie3647]

How do each of you find the voice recognition works overall? There have been posts complaining about the voice system not being to change the radio channel or being unable to enter a street address using voice commands. Is that an issue for most people?

Also have any of you had issues with the radio/nav rebooting for no apparent reason?

I’m not saying the system doesn’t work what few commands are available do work. Radio and media commands work fine. There have been no electronic gremlins of any kind so far. It’s those really (what I think) important ones like “Navigate” and name. Something so basic is inexcusable not having. Who wants to pull over to manually punch in a destination? What if you can’t pull over?

 

[keithl]

My 2007 Infiniti G has an exceptional voice recognition system with a very large vocabulary it even controls the HVAC system. I think part of that performance has to do with the initial voice learning session it requires so it understands your voice and its nuances. That said my 2011 Genesis was quite acceptable though not quite as elaborate as my G. it did everything I needed it to do. Let’s face it what are some of the important commands needed.

You have the one year G that Infiniti had decent voice commands. Early in the 2008 model year they whacked many of the voice commands and have never recovered. They gave no reason for the removal of so many commands. I had numerous Acuras that had far more extensive voice commands. My 2011 Infiniti M37S had such sparse commands it was embarrassing.

 

[NTX]

You have the one year G that Infiniti had decent voice commands. Early in the 2008 model year they whacked many of the voice commands and have never recovered. They gave no reason for the removal of so many commands. I had numerous Acuras that had far more extensive voice commands. My 2011 Infiniti M37S had such sparse commands it was embarrassing.

Amen. I had a 2008 Infiniti G35 and thought it had decent voice commands...until my dealer gave me a 2007 loaner. When I saw I could control almost every infotainment feature via voice command, I was shocked! Why Infiniti removed it from the 2008 models and later is beyond me!

 

[italiabrain]

Hard to tell - nothing is ever easy in software. We don't know whose software it is and Hyundai may need to wait for the developer to make changes before they can test and implement if it is not an in-house system. It is like nav maps - Hyundai is at the mercy of the Map data company if there are errors or things are out of date.

Understood. What I would take issue with is if they pushed out a software update for 2015.5 or 2016 while using identical hardware and then still refused to distribute that software for free or nominal cost to early 2015 adopters. (I'd pay for the cost of a physical SD card, shipping for same, or 0.25h time at dealer rate while at an oil change)

I will also take issue if there are similarly no hardware changes associated with Carplay and we still don't get it. Now if they have to tweak something to get a "Carplay compliant" system on the hardware end that's totally different and I wouldn't expect any sort of retrofitting of hardware that's not overtly defective.

 

[Ernie3647]

I have been reading how some here have commented here on how poorly the voice commands work however I ran across this.



Which comes from this review. http://www.autonet.ca/en/2014/07/21/2015-genesis-lacks-only-a-premium-brands-badge

Don't know why the difference in opinion here but it is important note that the Canadian model which they are referring to in this review does not have bluetec or google or any other app device which leads me to believe the issue may be with all those goodies combined into the system causing some bugs. Only way to know is when I get mine to report back but I think I am still about 6 weeks out.

Excerpts from the Consumer Reports article.

Voice command: This works well for placing or answering calls, and it even shows your contacts on large center screen for easy viewing. Simply saying "Call home" works like a charm every time. For navigation, the system understands street addresses and cities all in one sentence, rather than requiring each element of the address to be stated separately. But we were most impressed when we asked the system to "Find me a Starbucks." Within seconds, the system listed five of the nearest coffee houses. And the system doesn't make you say things like "points of interest," "restaurants," or even "coffee shops." It understood our craving right away. This voice command software is among the best we've ever tried.

I personally don’t find the voice command system as good as my old Genesis and certainly lacking for a car of this state of advanced technology. Makes me question Consumer Reports validity.

 

[Midnightsun]

Excerpts from the Consumer Reports article.

Voice command: This works well for placing or answering calls, and it even shows your contacts on large center screen for easy viewing. Simply saying "Call home" works like a charm every time. For navigation, the system understands street addresses and cities all in one sentence, rather than requiring each element of the address to be stated separately. But we were most impressed when we asked the system to "Find me a Starbucks." Within seconds, the system listed five of the nearest coffee houses. And the system doesn't make you say things like "points of interest," "restaurants," or even "coffee shops." It understood our craving right away. This voice command software is among the best we've ever tried.

I personally don’t find the voice command system as good as my old Genesis and certainly lacking for a car of this state of advanced technology. Makes me question Consumer Reports validity.

I think the biggest problem here is the people who are used to the gen 1 system and are frustrated because it does not work like it always has, myself included. Commands are more simplistic and quite easy but you do need to learn them, crap manual does not help either. Heck, I had problems with navigation because I kept saying navigate however the gen 2 wants more simple terms like go home instead of navigate home.

The old system had you dial phone numbers in 3 separate sequences for the 12 digit phone number. The new, you simply blurt out the entire number and it's there. No doubt about it, the new is much better not to mention the G2 bluetooth clarity is as perfect as it gets

 

[Nikgen]

I think the biggest problem here is the people who are used to the gen 1 system and are frustrated because it does not work like it always has, myself included. Commands are more simplistic and quite easy but you do need to learn them, crap manual does not help either. Heck, I had problems with navigation because I kept saying navigate however the gen 2 wants more simple terms like go home instead of navigate home.

The old system had you dial phone numbers in 3 separate sequences for the 12 digit phone number. The new, you simply blurt out the entire number and it's there. No doubt about it, the new is much better not to mention the G2 bluetooth clarity is as perfect as it gets

I have had some issues with the NAV voice recognition bringing back results that are way off the mark in terms of street names. I've had a few people try it and it's the same thing - so big room for improvement on the NAV voice recognition, at times. The Blue Link POI voice recognition seems to work much better - have not had any off results ever come back with that. I guess it's going out to Google for the POI and their voice recognition tech is much better?