Cerence Gains First Customers for Voice Assistant in Elevators, Motorcycles

Cerence, a provider of conversational artificial intelligence (AI) products and technology, announced Monday (Nov. 22) that it has gained its first customers in two new markets: elevators and two-wheeled vehicles. It also announced that in the automotive market, its sales continue to grow faster than new-vehicle production because a growing percentage of vehicles are equipped with voice assistants.

“We had several wins in the two-wheeler market, one with the leading global provider of two-wheeler motorcycles and four-wheel ATVs,” Cerence CEO Sanjay Dhawan said Monday during the company’s fourth quarter and fiscal year earnings call.

The company’s two-wheeled vehicle product enables OEMs to add intelligent voice assistants to their motorcycles, mopeds, e-bikes, scooters and other two-wheelers. The Cerence 2-Wheeler Mobility Platform enables riders to keep their eyes on the road and their hands on the handlebars while controlling navigation, music, media, local settings and smart home devices. Its connected technology works with the rider’s smartphone to provide these capabilities.

“We expect the first product to start production with our technology in calendar 2022,” Dhawan said.

Creating the Elevator of the Future

The company’s elevator product uses AI-powered voice and cloud connectivity to help users make their way to their intended destination. In elevators equipped with the Cerence Building Mobility Platform, users can simply say which floor they want or which office they’re visiting, and the elevator will take them to that floor. The elevator can also answer users’ questions about weather and traffic. If necessary, it can proactively announce emergency and other information.

“We have been talking about the potential of our technology in the elevator market for some time now,” Dhawan said. “I’m excited to report that we have won our first business. It is with one of the top manufacturers in the world and we are excited to help them create the elevator of the future using conversational AI. We expect to expand further in this market during this fiscal year.”

Becoming a Driver’s Trusted Copilot

In the automotive market, Cerence announced the addition of VinFast, a Vietnamese car company that has selected Cerence to power conversational AI in its smart electric vehicles. Dhawan said during the call that Cerence technology is in more than half of all the cars produced globally and that the company saw the number of cars produced with its connected services increase 20% at a time when the total number of cars produced rose 9%.

“Our strong growth is likely due to a combination of the penetration of connected car technology and market share gains,” he said.

During the past year, Cerence also introduced a product that allows drivers to use their voice to search the web for information while driving, and another that detects emergency vehicles and alerts the driver so they can get out of the way.

“Our goal is to be the central AI brain of the car, essentially becoming a driver’s trusted copilot,” Dhawan said. “To that end, we will see significant opportunities in the combination of vision and voice AI with applications in driver monitoring as well as road and cabin monitoring. This is an area you will hear more from us in 2022.”