US-based software company Cerence has introduced a new turnkey automotive voice assistant called Cerence ARK Assistant.

The platform is designed to enable carmakers to accelerate the development of a customised voice assistant for their vehicles.

ARK Assistant is launched at a time when, according to some surveys, the usage of in-car voice assistance is growing in the US.

The product is currently available in US English, with Cerence planning to roll out the platform in other languages too.

Cerence Core Products EVP and general manager Stefan Ortmanns said: “As in-car voice assistant usage grows exponentially and consumers demand access, we are proud of this milestone development of Cerence ARK Assistant to help automakers deliver robust solutions to stay ahead of their competition.

“With these new packaged innovations, we offer OEMs decades of experience building state-of-the-art voice solutions, plus the agility to get to market in just three to six months.”

ARK Assistant leverages Cerence voice and AI-based innovations and combines in-car technology and Cloud services to expedite the development of automotive voice assistants.

According to the company, the platform comes with speech recognition capabilities and supports human-like voice output known as text-to-speech (TTS).

The motorist can utilise Cerence ARK Assistant as a personal assistant while driving, for example to seek information on nearby charging stations, route directions, weather conditions or to play music.

In addition, it is devised to enable integration with other sensors, circuits and systems within a car.

ARK Assistant is designed for Android, but it can also work on other operating systems.

In February, Cerence partnered with HERE Technologies to deliver AI-powered mobility assistant offerings to automakers.