Regardless of one’s situation or location, one can nowadays easily use information from the internet while on the move, either using a mobile phone or via a WLAN. However, shifting the internet access to within the vehicles is a new thing. This year BMW became the first car manufacturer to offer Google local search inside its vehicles. The new technology allows search results to be transferred directly to a vehicle’s navigation system at the touch of a button, resulting in considerable time savings and less frustration when searching for unfamiliar destinations. Researchers even gone one step further: “Where can I find a pharmacy?” – “Kingshield Pharmacy – 1.2 kilometres away.” This almost sounds like a conversation between two people, and the question is indeed asked by the person behind the steering wheel. The answer, however, is given by the internet-based multimodal assistance system SmartWeb. This way of searching makes the internet not only mobile but also personal, with its specific answers making it ideal for mobile use.

SmartWeb is “multimodal” because the user can not only type in his question but also ask it aloud. Similarly, answers to questions, whether in the form of parking space information, traffic reports, weather forecasts or road safety warnings, can also be given either via the on-board computer or as voice messages emitted inside the vehicle or motorcycle helmet. A driver looking for the nearest pharmacy, for example, could continue the dialogue with SmartWeb by asking: “How do I get there? And I also need to fill up beforehand.” The system will then show the best route and the nearest petrol station on a digital map.

The development of this next-generation internet service and multimodal driver assistance system is part of a flagship project set up by the German Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF). SmartWeb was funded to the tune of 13.7 million euros and was realised by 16 industrial and research and development partners. The results of the planned 3-year project were presented by the BMBF at a concluding presentation in June 2007: eleven patent applications, eight product innovations, 140 scientific publications and the new speech-guided software emanated from this project.

The developers within the BMW Group Research and Technology Department and its partners too participated in the research project. Under the leadership of the German Research Centre for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI), they have succeeded in converting inventions from the man-technology-communications arena into marketable innovations for the German car industry.

Mobile information for increased road safety
How will all this work, therefore, in the future? SmartWeb works using speech recognition technology and an open vocabulary. If it is told: “I would like to go to Kleinsendelbach”, its speech recognition module identifies and classifies any unknown words, and the system is able to understand and present the question for server-based processing by making use of an entire inventory of word subunits such as sounds and syllables. In reply, the platform then provides an individual route plan in the form of a video, audio and/or image file. “The performance of our SmartWeb response system is based on the Semantic Web, which allows our software to understand the content of internet files. In response to the question “Who won the World Cup in 1954?” SmartWeb does not provides an endless list of links to the relevant pages, instead giving the the direct answer, ‘Germany’,” says Prof. Wolfgang Wahlster, head of the DFKI. Conventional web search engines deliver a list of links containing the search term , with users then having to search themselves for the desired information, SmartWeb enables a question to be answered directly.

Another aim of the system is to increase road safety through internet access and at the same time ensure that road safety is not compromised because of it. The software developed does this on the one hand by allowing drivers to keep both hands on the steering wheel while searching for information; and on the other by warning of any possible dangers ahead. “SmartWeb is more than an information platform. It can improve road safety for car drivers, motorbike riders and pedestrians”, says Prof. Raymond Freymann, head of BMW Group Research and Technology.

Motorbike riders, for example, are informed of local traffic hazards using visual and acoustic signals. As in the case of car drivers, questions are asked and answered using speech input/output inside the helmet. A display screen on the steering wheel means that queries can also be made manually. “Using a new type of handle grip with strength feedback, and speech input and output inside the helmet, a motorbike rider can receive information from the internet at any time without distraction. The menu can even be navigated when wearing motorbike gloves”, explains Prof. Freymann. Moreover the system can engage in car-to-car communication. If there is a motorbike in the transmission range of a car that is equipped with SmartWeb as well, the motorbike driver receives warnings as relevant to his class of vehicle. He is similarly supplied with information about road conditions, oil trails or impending traffic jams through the earphones in his helmet.

Those on foot too can use SmartWeb, with pedestrians, and tourists in particular, benefiting from the system’s image recognition and navigation possibilities. For example, they can photograph a poster for an event and ask the handheld unit for directions on how to get to the event location. SmartWeb, a prototype version of which is currently installed on the Ameo Smartphone from T-Mobile, tells you how to get there.

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