The Artificial Passenger is a telematics device, developed by IBM, that interacts verbally with a driver to reduce the likelihood of falling asleep at the controls of a vehicle. It is based on inventions covered by US Pat. 6,236,968. The Artificial Passenger is equipped to hire a vehicle operator, holding conversations, playing verbal games, controlling the vehicle's stereo system, and so on. It also controls the driver's voice patterns to detect fatigue, and in response may suggest that the driver take a break or get some sleep. The Artificial Passenger can also be integrated with wireless services to provide weather and road information, driving directions and other such notifications.
According to Dimitri Kanevsky, a former IBM researcher, currently at Google, The Artificial Passenger was developed using the Interactivity for Telematics (CIT) conversation system that features natural driver speech instead of handwriting. The CIT is based on a natural language comprehension system (NLU) that is difficult to develop due to the low power computer systems available within the cars. IBM suggests that this system be located on a server and accessed through the wireless technologies of automobiles. IBM also says they are working on a "quasi-NLU" that uses less CPU resources and can be used inside the car. The CIT system includes another system called Dialog Manager (DM). The DM takes charge of the NLU system interacting with the vehicle, driver and external systems such as weather systems, email, telephones and more.
The NLU system receives a voice command from the controller and looks through a file system to get an action to perform and execute that action. The DM works with questions asked by the driver, such as "How far is Gallatin Field Airport from here?" The NLU system will not yet be able to understand everything a driver says. The reasons for this are the different languages and dialects of the different regions. IBM is working on developing a system that recognizes where the driver is and recognizes the regional diction used in that area.