Mercedes voice control - Linguatronic
photo thanks to Jeff Bower
Voice recognition controls the phone, radio, CD and tape, and can switch to navigation. One pulls the stalk forward and in a second or so it beeps. Then one speaks normally, like "radio", "cassette", "CD" and the MCS will change modes. Pushing back the stalk cancels the voice request.
One can also use it to pick up (pull forward) or hang up (push back) the phone when it rings.
Voice Control Operation guide (from Paul's site) [pdf]
This includes model year 2002 to 2005 M-Classes.
Call 511 for current traffic reports
in the San Francisco bay area for current traffic reports using a
voice recognition system. Once at the main menu, say "traffic
condition" and then one can ask for the highway, like "interstate 85
southbound". It will then respond with any current reports on file.
VRM pinouts
01 circuit 30 +12V
02 circuit 15R +12V
03 ground
04 wakeup
05 microphone +
06 microphone -
08 PTT contact ON
09 PTT switch center contact
10 PTT contact OFF
7, 11 - 15 not connected
D2B fiber ring
Latest voice recognition modules as of 10/02 (all with D2B interface)
BQ 682 06 650 English (US dialect)
203 820 02 85 German
203 820 03 85 English (UK dialect)
203 820 04 85 Italian
203 820 05 85 French
203 820 06 85 Spanish
203 820 07 85 Swiss-German
It's also possible to control audio functions without having a phone by just using the VRM kit, plus maybe some parts from the phone install kit like the harness and the phone controller.
M-Class D2B fiber ring in 2002 and in 2005
Some installation instructions by Richard, UK, right hand drive
Voice recognition retrofit in 2001 M-Classes
is possible by installing a third party PTT switch and connecting
it directly to pin 8 and 9 of the VRM. It may also be necessary to
update the MCS to a later version. M-Classes come with a AKG
flush-mount single electret condenser microphone built into the
overhead center console.
Linguatronic:
Product Level Speech System for Mercedes-Benz Cars (pdf)
Paul Heisterkamp, DaimlerChrysler Research & Technology, Speech
Understanding, Ulm
Proceedings of the Human Language Technology (HLT) Conference, San Diego, USA, 2001
Automakers struggle with speech recognition technology
EETimes, 12/01/2001. Remember the AutoPC?
Safety and Operating Issues for Mobile Human-Machine Interfaces
Dirk Bühler, Sebastian Vignier, Paul Heisterkamp and Wolfgang Minker,
DaimlerChrysler ULM, January 2003
Development of an in-car vocal dialog system
Xavier Lacot, DaimlerChrysler Research Center, ULM, October 2003 - July 2004
Voice Interface of Car Navigation System - Current Technologies and Future -
Tomohiro Iwasaki, Makoto Kosaka, Mitsubishi Electric Corporation Technical Report, Dec 2004
Speech-controlled Media File Selection on Embedded Systems
Yu-Fang H. Wang, Stefan W. Hamerich, Marcus E. Hennecke, Volker M. Schubert
Paper given by Temic SDS, a division of harman Becker Automotive at SIGdial, September 2005
Mercedes-Benz Speech Control timeline
1970s First research projects started within AEG Telefunken.
1996 Linguatronic speech recognition with 30 words introduced in a
Mercedes-Benz S-Class in Germany.
1997 Mercedes introduces the car, which listens to words at the Frankurt show (IAA '97).
1999 Speech recognition introduced in the USA in May of 1999 in
the Mercedes S-Class.
2001 Second generation introduced with 300 words: controls phone, CD-changer, radio, tape, switch to NAV.
2001 MBUSA introduces second generation speech control on the MY2002 M-Class.
2003 Navigation address input with 3000 word vocabulary
(04+ S, CL, SL, all with MOST) debuts.
2006 Optional MOST based voice control debuts on the MY2007 ML, R and GL.
2007 Nuance VoCon launches on 2008 C-Class
The MBUSA picture shows the 2 voice control buttons in the center of the
left and right steering wheel switch clusters.
2007 Operation Manual
The Voice Control Operation Manual for the 2007 ML, R and GL is
Mercedes-Benz part number T-6515-9720-13.
MY2006+ M, R, GL voice control retrofit
Voice control can be retrofit by switching the steering wheel switch
clusters in case they don't have the center buttons, and installing the
VCS control module on the MOST ring, maybe requiring some additional
wiring harness.
MOST fiber ring from the 2006 ML/R (left) and with voice control from the 2007 S-Class (right)
Voice control part numbers gleened on EPCnet Online.
The 2005-2006 211 E-Class wagon cellphone and VCS installation bulletin is T-I-82.70/415A.
The 2007 221 S-Class cellphone and VCS installation bulletin is T-I-82.70/481B.
The MY2007 GL450 model 164.871 (Up to VIN A150126) VCS installation bulletin is T-I-82.70/571.
Nuance Powers Voice-Activated Features for Mercedes-Benz, New 2008 C-Class
Nuance delivers convenience with voice-activated dialing, text message
readout, command and control of entertainment system and voice destination
entry for navigation System. Nuance VoCon 3200 embedded speech recognition
engine is speaker-independent, has continuous speech recognition and is
especially tuned to meet the demanding accuracy requirements in noisy
environments. VoCon 3200 can recognise very large vocabularies of
100,000+ names. The speaker adaptation functionality increases the
individual recognition performance, by adapting the system to the car
driver's voice. It supports 18 languages, covering all key European,
Asian and North American languages.
Drivers can formulate speech commands in many different ways without
the need to use a small set of precise commands or to follow a multi-layer
menu structure. For example, drivers can say, “Call Peter Miller” to
initiate a phone call, eliminating the multiple voice commands required
by previous speech systems. Drivers may also say, “Radio station WDR2,”
to tune to a specific radio station without ever setting voice tags for
specific channels. Command APS is “fluent” in US and UK-English, German,
French, Italian, Spanish and Dutch, so drivers can select a language
on-the-fly.
May 8, 2007
Tele Atlas Takes Mercedes Navigation Closer to Conversation
The long-standing partnership between Tele Atlas and Harman/Becker
Automotive Systems has delivered a significant advance in voice
controlled navigation for the new Mercedes C-Class vehicles and set a new
standard for this automotive segment. The navigation function recognizes
the names of all cities, towns, streets and even Points of Interest (POIs)
in any of eight European countries. Stored sentences such as "Go to office"
make regular destinations even easier. Voice-operated navigation in the
Audio 50 APS system is available from July 2007 for the Mercedes C-Class.
September 7, 2007
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