Honeywell Aerospace is developing voice recognition technology for pilots, according to an Arizona Daily Star article by Meryl Fishler. The company – which is no stranger to biometric technology – hopes to automate several functions in the cockpit by linking them to voice commands.
It’s not just so the pilot can pretend to be Captain Kirk. Honeywell believes it could free up valuable mental bandwidth for pilots, allowing them to focus on safe and efficient flying; the company is, in fact, working with pilots to figure out what functions they’d like the technology to perform.
There are technical issues that still need to be hammered out, of course. As Fischler notes, in most cockpits there are multiple people talking. Moreover, a variety of accents can come into play. But voice biometrics technology has been advancing by leaps and bounds. Systems like Dragon Drive, installed in smart cars of the very near future, can identify individual drivers by their voices alone. At this point it’s almost inconceivable that the technology will not be able to resolve these issues. And that’s good news for pilots, passengers, and Honeywell.
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February 17, 2015 – by Alex Perala
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