Voice assistants are set to take over our homes — that’s Google’s prediction for the future.
The tech giant is having its biggest ever showing at CES, the world’s largest technology fair, and has erected a huge stand in the car park outside the Las Vegas Convention Center.
More than 350 voice-controlled devices are on display inside as part of the company’s big push for its smart “Assistant” — its answer to the likes of Amazon’s Alexa and Apple’s Siri.
They include speakers, televisions, phones and cars, which all have the search giant’s hands-free software, along with a toy-town railway. In the middle of the tracks are examples of activities supposed to be improved by using Assistant, from ordering pizza to buying cinema tickets to vacuuming.
Lilian Rincon, Google director of product management, reckons customers making their home “smart” by using the Assistant to turn on lights, boil the kettle and do other tasks could save 15 minutes from their morning routine.
She said the Assistant is now capable of doing one million actions.
CES: Consumer Electronics Show CES 2018 - In pictures
Ms Rincon said: “We really think this is the new way that people will start interacting with their devices. Our goal is to make this the most natural way you can communicate with Google.” She added the future would be customers “expecting” voice control to be in their devices as a normal function for communicating with technology.
Visitors to Google’s show are invited to lie back on a circular sofa and gaze at a planetarium-style ceiling display showing off its products.
Assistant can also be found in several third-party smart home devices. Asked about privacy concerns, Ms Rincon said: “Unless you interact with it, we’re not listening or recording those things and so it’s a very safe product.”
Smart speakers - in pictures
Mark Blunden flew as a guest of Virgin Atlantic, which flies the Boeing 747-400 daily from Gatwick to Las Vegas. More details: virginatlantic.com
