Nuance’s Dragon Drive Voice-Enables Hyundai’s Next-Generation Connected Car

Hyundai Showcases its Connected Car Prototype at CES, Bringing Intelligent, Conversational In-Car Connectivity to the Mass Consumer Market

BURLINGTON, Mass. & LAS VEGAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nuance Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: NUAN) and Hyundai announced today the development of a new voice-enabled infotainment system with Nuance’s automotive-grade Dragon Drive platform. Hyundai’s vision for its next-generation connected cars is on display at the 2013 International Consumer Electronics Show in the North Hall, Booth 315.

“Get directions to Legal Harborside on the Waterfront in Boston”

Hyundai’s new infotainment system deeply integrates Nuance’s Dragon Drive natural language understanding automotive voice platform to showcase the power of conversational interfaces as part of a safer, smarter in-car experience. Hyundai’s next-generation of cars will include natural language voice-enabled phone dialing, message dictation, destination entry – by address or point of interest – and searching for music both in the car or streaming from online music services. For example, people can say:

• “Call my brother on his mobile”;
• “Send a text message to my wife: I’ll grab the milk on the way home”;
• “Get directions to Legal Harborside on the Waterfront in Boston;”
• “Play a song by Taylor Swift”.

Hyundai is also among the first automakers to introduce “Welcome Mode,” leveraging Nuance’s personal assistant capabilities designed for the connected car. Drivers are greeted with a personal message when they enter the car, along with personalized greeting using Nuance’s text-to-speech. This greeting includes updated weather forecast at the user’s location, a personal playlist, or even directions based on a user profile supplied by Hyundai.

“Consumers expect to be connected to people and content no matter where they are. And when they are behind the wheel, it’s our responsibility to balance that demand with features that minimize the potential for driver distraction,” said Michael O’Brien, vice president of Product and Corporate Planning at Hyundai Motor America. “Hyundai is committed to stay at the forefront of innovation, and by leveraging Nuance’s Dragon Drive platform for our next-generation infotainment systems, we’ll be able to bring the broad consumer market smart, innovative and intuitive experiences powered by voice.”

“People have deep and personal connections to their devices and the content they offer – their in-car experiences shouldn’t be any different,” said Arnd Weil, vice president and general manager, automotive, Nuance Mobile. “Hyundai’s connected car prototype demonstrates the flexibility and broad capabilities of our Dragon Drive platform, where Nuance’s voice technologies deliver an intelligent, conversational exchange between people and their cars to keep them connected no matter where life’s journey brings them.”

Dragon Drive is Nuance’s automotive-grade platform that fully harnesses Nuance’s deep expertise and research in natural language understanding voice technologies to deliver connected and embedded capabilities such as voice dialing, message dictation, navigation, local business search and music search. The result is a smarter, safer in-car experience that lets drivers keep their hands on the wheel and eyes on the road.

Dragon Drive is a part of Nuance’s broad Dragon portfolio, including Dragon NaturallySpeaking, Dragon Dictate for Mac, Dragon Voice Assistant, Dragon Mobile Assistant, Dragon Dictation, Dragon Go!, Dragon TV and Dragon ID, all humanizing the way people engage their phones, tablets, TVs, cars and computers – just by using their voice. To learn more about all that Nuance’s Dragon portfolio has to offer, visit www.nuance.com and www.nuancemobilelife.com.

About Nuance Communications, Inc.

Nuance Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: NUAN) is a leading provider of voice and language solutions for businesses and consumers around the world. Its technologies, applications and services make the user experience more compelling by transforming the way people interact with devices and systems. Every day, millions of users and thousands of businesses experience Nuance’s proven applications. For more information, please visit www.nuance.com.

Nuance and the Nuance logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Nuance Communications, Inc. or its subsidiaries in the United States of America and/or other countries. All other company names or product names may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

The statements in this press release relating to future plans or future events or service, are forward-looking statements which are subject to specific risks and uncertainties. These could involve particular market trends, competition factors and other risks described in the documents submitted to the US Securities and Exchange Commission. The actual results, events and services may vary significantly from the forecasts. The reader is warned not to rely on these forward- looking statements without reservation, since these are simply reflections of the current situation.