TMC is an independent, primarily volunteer organization that relies on ad revenue to cover its operating costs. Please consider whitelisting TMC on your ad blocker and becoming a Supporting Member. For more info: Support TMC

Voice/speech recognition sensitivity and accuracy

Discussion in 'Model S: User Interface' started by jbherman, Apr 30, 2013.

Page 1 of 2
  1. jbherman

    jbherman Member

    Joined:
    Jan 8, 2012
    Messages:
    153
    Location:
    Leawood, KS
    #1 jbherman, Apr 30, 2013
    Mods, please merge if there's already a thread addressing this. I was unable to find one via search.

    My Model S voice recognition is becoming increasingly less accurate and sensitive. I typically use the "call," "listen to," and "navigate to" commands. More than 75% of the time now, I'm getting an "unknown command" error (and, yes, I am holding down the button throughout my command, as I'm supposed to do). I have used speech recognition extensively at work for many years, so I'm familiar with most of the quirks. Sometimes it actually seems to work better when I speak a bit more quietly. It's definitely worse when I'm on the highway. Articulation/enunciation has little effect. Has anyone else had a similar problem? My old car had voice commands that worked extremely well (Audi).

    Does anyone know where the microphone is hidden?

    It's becoming extremely frustrating. I was expecting much more robust speech functionality. Hopefully this will be greatly expanded in a future software release (sooner than later).

    Edit: I'm on the latest 4.4 firmware release.
     
  2. AnOutsider

    AnOutsider S532 # XS27

    Joined:
    Apr 3, 2009
    Messages:
    11,931
    #2 AnOutsider, Apr 30, 2013
    Wow, glad you made this thread. Over the last 3 days I've had to repeat my commands numerous times and eventually just type them in (in the case of nav) in one instance. I thought I was bugging, but even my wife mentioned that it seemed to "get" everything before and now I'm fighting with it. A change in 4.4 or Google's servers?
     
  3. jomo25

    jomo25 P4398

    Joined:
    Mar 16, 2012
    Messages:
    1,938
    Location:
    Tempe, AZ
    #3 jomo25, Apr 30, 2013
    A similar thread. NOt necessarily about any recent issues, but does address questions of voice quality and mic position, I think.

    Voice quality
     
  4. efusco

    efusco Moderator - Model S & X forums

    Joined:
    Mar 29, 2009
    Messages:
    4,818
    Location:
    Nixa, Missouri, United States
    #4 efusco, Apr 30, 2013
    Yea, I am very frustrated with the voice commands and also suspect the microphone b/c the audio on phone calls from the car is nearly inaudible, while the sound in the car from the outside line is always nice and clear.
     
  5. jbherman

    jbherman Member

    Joined:
    Jan 8, 2012
    Messages:
    153
    Location:
    Leawood, KS
    #5 jbherman, Apr 30, 2013
    Thanks...I think the issues are likely related to the microphone (I actually posted under that thread 6 weeks ago and totally forgot!), however, I find it odd that performance is declining. With relative decreased ambient noise in an EV, I would expect the microphone to function better than those in ICE cars. Perhaps it's the quality of the mic and where TM has chosen to place it. Or, it could be inferior voice recognition software (which could be improved with a software upgrade). I wonder what platform they use? I'm getting sick of yelling at my car! She doesn't deserve it...

    Aside from the quality issues, a broader range of commands (e.g. "play Slacker channel classic rock," "open sunroof to 80%," "cancel navigation," etc.) and supplemental commands (e.g. "call wife"..."select mobile") would be desirable.
     
  6. Rodolfo Paiz

    Rodolfo Paiz P85 "Plug and Play"

    Joined:
    Nov 19, 2012
    Messages:
    693
    Location:
    Miami, FL
    #6 Rodolfo Paiz, Apr 30, 2013
    Hmm... I don't use the voice stuff so much, but I do have the impression that it's less accurate at recognition now than it was before. Take that with a grain of salt, but it does feel that way.
     
  7. bob_p

    bob_p Active Member

    Joined:
    Apr 5, 2012
    Messages:
    1,590
    #7 bob_p, Apr 30, 2013
    I did a microphone check over the weekend - leaving myself voicemails using my phone connected via Bluetooth to the car in different situations (standing still, driving at higher speeds, A/C on/off, ...) and noticed that the audio from inside the Model S is not as clear as the audio with the phone running away from the car - more of a "digitized" sound. And when the car is driving, there's noticeable background noise being picked up by the microphone.

    My home voice mail is with Comcast - and they can e-mail the voice mail - so I sent those into Tesla Ownership with a note on the problem.

    If you have some way to run a similar test - suggest that you make several recordings, note how each recording was made - and send that to Ownership. If they get enough users complaining about this problem - with audio evidence, maybe that will help them get it fixed.
     
  8. riceuguy

    riceuguy Member

    Joined:
    Dec 17, 2012
    Messages:
    169
    Location:
    Austin, TX
    #8 riceuguy, May 1, 2013
    Phew...thought it was just me! "Damnit...I said, "navigate to Starbucks!"
     
  9. shady

    shady Member

    Joined:
    Nov 26, 2012
    Messages:
    184
    Location:
    Morgan Hill, California
    #9 shady, May 1, 2013
    I've also noticed the degradation recently. I drove a bunch of people from work to see Iron Man 3 today (everyone wanted to come with me!) and the demo of the voice was a complete disaster.

    When the car was new (almost 2 months ago) I would get a 70% success rate. Now It's about 10%
     
  10. AnOutsider

    AnOutsider S532 # XS27

    Joined:
    Apr 3, 2009
    Messages:
    11,931
    #10 AnOutsider, May 1, 2013
    That's funny. We were going to the premiere tonight as well, and I tried thrice to say "navigate to" and got unknown command each time, sheepishly typed it in.
     
  11. JerryNycom

    JerryNycom Member

    Joined:
    Nov 6, 2012
    Messages:
    503
    Location:
    New York
    #11 JerryNycom, May 2, 2013
    I have the car since Mar 22, and same thing....First 3 weeks was 70-80% accurate, now I get "unknown command". Hate typing!
     
  12. efusco

    efusco Moderator - Model S & X forums

    Joined:
    Mar 29, 2009
    Messages:
    4,818
    Location:
    Nixa, Missouri, United States
    #12 efusco, May 2, 2013
    My service tech is coming for a ranger visit in 1-2 weeks and says he'll replace the microphone at that time.
     
  13. NigelM

    NigelM Recovering Member

    Joined:
    Apr 3, 2011
    Messages:
    13,313
    Location:
    Sarasota, FL
    #13 NigelM, May 2, 2013
    "Thrice" thou sayeth? I fear thine horseless-carriage hath misunderstood thee.
     
  14. jbherman

    jbherman Member

    Joined:
    Jan 8, 2012
    Messages:
    153
    Location:
    Leawood, KS
    #14 jbherman, May 2, 2013
    Please update regarding performance after the mic replacement. I'm interested to know if it's the mic, voice recognition software, or both.
     
  15. AnOutsider

    AnOutsider S532 # XS27

    Joined:
    Apr 3, 2009
    Messages:
    11,931
    #15 AnOutsider, May 2, 2013
    I can't see our mics all failing at the same time. I'm thinking it's either a change in the MS or Google software.
     
  16. efusco

    efusco Moderator - Model S & X forums

    Joined:
    Mar 29, 2009
    Messages:
    4,818
    Location:
    Nixa, Missouri, United States
    #16 efusco, May 2, 2013
    Perhaps, but it's odd that it's just a transmission, and not a reception issue.
     
  17. Doug_G

    Doug_G Lead Moderator

    Joined:
    Apr 2, 2010
    Messages:
    16,567
    Location:
    Ottawa, Canada
    #17 Doug_G, May 2, 2013
    I've been getting 90%+ reliability out of voice commands. Two tips:

    1. Wait a full second after the bong sounds - it's still not ready
    2. Speak slowly and clearly

    For me, most of the time when it messes up, it's because the word is unusual.

    If you like the musician deadmau5 then you better like listening to songs about dead mice, because that's what you're going to get.
     
  18. AnOutsider

    AnOutsider S532 # XS27

    Joined:
    Apr 3, 2009
    Messages:
    11,931
    #18 AnOutsider, May 2, 2013
    I think you're missing the point though that many here have posted that the accuracy has dropped recently. This would suggest folks that have previously gotten higher accuracy and probably know the intricacies of the system.

    Speaking for myself, I've been a big advocate of the system as it's previously worked nearly flawlessly for me. No PICNIC error here.
     
  19. scriptacus

    scriptacus Member

    Joined:
    Jan 20, 2013
    Messages:
    216
    Location:
    Los Angeles, CA
    #19 scriptacus, May 3, 2013
    It's almost certainly not the mics. You'll notice if you have no 3G the "listen to" and "navigate to" commands will fail almost instantly (I didn't test "call"). I'm fairly certain the system works like Apple's Siri; it sends the snippet of voice to a server where it is processed into a format the car can handle. If that's the case it's entirely possible that their servers are having issues, which explains why it affects so many owners.
     
  20. aaronw

    aaronw Member

    Joined:
    Dec 19, 2012
    Messages:
    290
    Location:
    United States
    #20 aaronw, May 6, 2013
    I haven't been all that impressed by the voice recognition. I will be glad when the navigation system allows me to mark various destinations since I can't even speak my home address into it (I have to use the on-screen keyboard or the history if it's there).
     
(You must log in or sign up to post here.)
Page 1 of 2

Share This Page

Toggle Width
Style
TMC 2016