Title

AWS re:Invent 2023 - Taking BMW Group’s in-vehicle voice experience from idea to reality (ALX201)

Summary

Emerson Sklar, Amazon Alexa's chief evangelist, and Patrick Prang, senior product owner of voice experiences for BMW Group, discuss the partnership between Amazon and BMW to create an advanced in-vehicle voice assistant.
The session covers the BMW Group's history, the MINI brand, and the community's unique relationship with their vehicles.
Four key characteristics were defined for the MINI Intelligent Personal Assistant: a strong tech stack with offline capabilities, custom skills for branding, use of Mini-ID, and personalization.
The Alexa Custom Assistant (ACA) is highlighted as the technology enabling businesses to create customized voice experiences without the need for extensive infrastructure.
ACA's flexibility and powerful speech recognition are emphasized, along with the importance of creating a voice that reflects the brand's identity and meets customer expectations.
The voice creation process involved identifying character traits, recording a voice actor, and using speech disentanglement technology called Polyglot to create a multilingual, multispeaker model.
A demo showcases the MINI Intelligent Personal Assistant's capabilities, including its custom voice with a British accent and the ability to speak multiple languages.

The partnership between Amazon and BMW leverages the strengths of both companies: Amazon's voice technology expertise and BMW's deep understanding of its customers and brand identity.
The MINI Intelligent Personal Assistant is designed to reflect the MINI brand's heritage and the personal connection MINI drivers have with their vehicles, which is a unique approach in the automotive industry.
ACA's ability to provide a customized voice experience while maintaining the capability for offline interactions addresses the practical needs of drivers who may encounter areas with poor connectivity.
The use of speech disentanglement technology, Polyglot, to create a consistent voice experience across multiple languages is a significant advancement in voice assistant technology, enhancing the global appeal of the MINI brand.
The session demonstrates the importance of sonic branding and the emotional connection users can form with a voice assistant when it is tailored to reflect the brand's identity and values.