You might be used to
calling 'Hey Google...', or even 'Alexa...' to get a response from
your smart assistant, but what about in the car? Soon you might be
having a chat with Chris... and no, that isn't Chris pictured above.
That's a guy called Holger, inventor of Chris. Read on, it'll make
more sense...
Hello. Who are you?
Holger G. Weiss,
founder and CEO of German Autolabs.
And what do you do?
I manage German
Autolabs together with my co-founder Patrick. With a team of more
than 25 employees in Berlin we are working on making driving safer,
more convenient and fun for everyone by developing an assistant for
drivers.
Tell us how you got
started in that.
Ha ha, I hired myself -
one of the good sides of being a founder. Seriously: After my studies
and the usual trainee I joined my first startup in 2000 in Berlin,
dealing with maps and data. When SatNavs came up we got big, sold the
company to Nokia and it turned to Nokia Maps, today known as HERE
Technologies and lately acquired by the big German car-makers for
roughly three billion Euros. I started to invest myself and later
joined AUPEO!, a streaming radio provider which pivoted to a platform
and turned into another mobility gig later acquired by Panasonic of
North America in 2013. With 20 years startups knowledge and a strong
focus on Automotive I was ready for another challenge: German
Autolabs.
What is an average day
like for you?
Getting up early
checking what happened overnight, going to the office (and usually
cleaning the dishwasher and starting the coffee machine :-)),
followed by meetings, calls, interviews like this one, calls,
meetings and did I mention calls?
Tell us about Chris.
Chris is the first
assistant specifically made for drivers. The smart design device fits
into every car and features a great voice assistant with additional
gesture control. Chris listens and talks to you, just like a human
co-driver, and gives you touch-free access to the apps and and
services you really need while driving: messaging, navigation, calls
and music. Best of all: Chris also works when you lose your Internet
connection, which often happens while driving. It keeps listening and
answering to your requests.
Where do you see voice
assistants and car tech going in the near future, and how might you
have to adapt?
Autonomous driving is
coming (BTW rather later than sooner in relevant numbers) and
sometimes people say: Holger, I won't need an assistant any more
because i can handle my phone once the car is driving itself. But
that´s not whats going to happen. Chris is a digital co-driver, an
intelligent assistant powered by artificial intelligence and one day
it also understands the car, the environment, your blood-pressure,
the cognitive load - that's where we are working on. Even a
self-driving car needs a human-machine interface - and voice
interaction is just the way to go. Guess why Picard is talking to the
Enterprise, not operating a touchscreen....
What advice would you
offer to someone keen to follow in your footsteps?
Three tipps: First of
all - whatever you don´t do is wrong. Secondly there is no golden
bullet to solve all problems. Thirdly: It will take longer than you
expect (...and since I am doing it the third time, I have to know it
;))
Apart from your own
product, what kind of gadget would you like to see being reviewed on
The Test Pit.
Please review the
Vorwerk Thermomix. This device apparently changed cooking to many
people as Jamie Oliver did before. I like cooking, and I would like
to understand how a machine can make complex things so simple. We
have Thermomix printed magazines meanwhile...give it a try!
Will do. Cheers Holger,
and best of luck with Chris.
Find out more at
www.germanautolabs.com