Skoda, clearly jealous of the likes of Siri and Alexa, has decided to develop its own in-dash digital assistant. Say hello to Laura...
Laura can understand natural speech
Laura is part of the new, upgraded, 'Amundsen' infotainment system and it'll be available first in the new Kamiq crossover and the Scala hatchback. You activate it (her?) by simply saying 'OK, Laura' at the dashboard (clearly, this is going to be an issue for anyone with a daughter, wife, or sister called Laura...) and the system can understand natural speech and, to an extent, colloquialisms.
Laura supports six languages: English, German and French as well as Spanish, Italian and Czech. If required, the system can even understand different dialects
Connectivity is 'always on'
Both cars come with a connected SIM card as standard, so they're essentially 'always on' and as long as the system can connect to a mobile network, Laura will be there to help you. Skoda claims that the system is so fast at transitioning from dealing with specifically in-car commands, to searching for answers online that: "The transition between online and offline services is so seamless that occupants are never aware of it."
You can even interrupt Laura - drivers can interrupt their dialogue with Laura at any time and use a new command without having to wait for the system to complete an answer, which is said to speed up response times to requests. The system also only turns down the stereo when you're using it, which Skoda says makes it feel like a more natural conversation.
Will eventually spread to apps and mobile devices
Skoda has, of course, confirmed that Laura will eventually spread out to other models in the range, but interestingly the company has also said that: "Laura will be able to control certain vehicle functions and respond with more flexibility to complete sentences, even enabling a kind of digital small talk. Other potential applications of the enhanced voice control system that might become available at a later date include Skoda areas outside of the vehicle - such as mobile and web apps, as well as the online configurator."
In other words, Laura might one day become just as ubiquitous as Siri or Alexa. A Skoda personal assistant? Who wouldn't want that?