Future tech more successful if it speaks

Imagine yourself sitting in a self-driving vehicle. How would you feel more comfortable and secure? If the car performed it tasks silently, like the robot that it is or if the car spoke and responded to you in a humanly voice?

It’s high time to consider such questions since Google is one small step away from releasing its autonomous vehicles onto the streets of the world and other tech companies, like IBM, are working on super-genius computers which perform tasks people usually do.

‘Sophisticated machines now perform tasks that once required a thoughtful human mind, from grading essays to diagnosing cancer to driving a car,’ say researchers of a new study entitled ‘ The Mind in the Machine.’

We can all agree that engineers remove one obstacle after another when dealing with what technology is capable of doing. Nevertheless, a bigger obstacle stands ahead of a world ruled by smart machines and that is the human reluctance to trusting a robot with a task people usually do, such as driving, cooking or performing surgery.

Researchers went out to test this theory. They tested people’s reaction in several driving situations, including an unavoidable collision.

People had to drive using a simulator, first being in full control of their driving experience, then switching to the autonomous mode where the machine quietly performed its driving tasks. The final situation was driving in autonomous mode but, this time, the computer controlling the car spoke in a human voice to the passive driver and even responded to the name of Iris.

The result was that participants trusted the talking care a lot more than the car driving itself without saying a word. Even in case of an accident, the car soothed its passengers and, as a result, they were more relaxed and confident in their robot vehicle.

‘Even the greatest technology, such as vehicles that drive themselves, is of little benefit if consumers are unwilling to use it,’ concluded the reasearchers.