Voice Recognition Not Ready for Prime Time

Carmakers should give up on voice-activated controls for now and focus on simpler systems that actually work, says market research firm J.D. Power.

Kristin Kolodge, who heads the firm's driver interaction unit, tells attendees at the Management Briefing Seminars in Traverse City, Mich., that voice recognition has earned a "failing grade" in Power's annual Initial Quality Study. The IQS polls new-car owners for feedback about their vehicles and reports on what they like and don't like.

Struggles with voice activation topped the list of complaints in the 2014 survey. Infotainments-related issues accounted for 23% of all problems reported, and one-third of them were due to malfunctioning voice recognition systems, Kolodge says.

She blames much of the failures of such technology on the noisiness of a car's interior. But until carmakers can overcome that basic problem, she suggests, they would be wise to focus on less complicated and more reliable features.