getakey

I have experienced this multiple times now. I try to dial my Mom by voice. Her name is one syllable for both first and last name. Most of the time it gets it right. However, there are times when it just does not work. I won't say state her name here, but the voice recognition thinks I'm saying 52. I can repeat many times and it continually thinks 52. I can only get it to correctly understand if I stop and restart the car.

Malibu Flyer

i have found the voice recognization I the RLX unusable. I gave up after a few months trying to use it for anything -- whether Nav or phone input.

However, in regard to the phone I have programmed a number of shortcuts into the infotainment system. By pressing the phone button on the steering wheel brings up the phone shortcuts, and I can then quickly scroll the a short list of numbers. Simply press the call button when I have scrolled to the number I want and the call is dialed. Also, my other work around is to use use my iPhone's favorites feature (I imagine that Android phones have something similar). It requires going to the handset, selecting the phone icon and then the favorites badge. Then a simple touch on the favorite I want to call dials the number. Not ideal but better than having to try using the infotainment system on the car. I have had to resort to this method to check my office voicemail since I have not been successful in using a voicemail shortcut. My office voice mail requires dialing a phone number, adding some pauses, entering my office number, adding some pauses, entering a password. If I use the favorites of my iPhone to place the call, it works fine. Using the identical number from the infotainment system in the car never works. My car is a 2014 so perhaps the 2016s are more voice recognition friendly.

flagship

If you have a recent apple smartphone try turning on the "hey Siri" voice option.
"Hey Siri call <name>. "
"Hey Siri call <name> at <home or mobile or work>."

George Knighton

Siri works a lot better than Acura.

But then you have that weird bug when the car unilaterally decides you intended to be in Private Mode instead of Bluetooth.

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neuronbob

I agree. Voice recognition is unusable in this car. I thought it was just me. I programmed in my most frequently dialed phone numbers, including hospital floors and EDs, and I just use the phone buttons on the wheel. I barely have to take the phone out of my pocket at all while driving. I'd like some of the 2016 owners to chime in because I wonder whether it is yet another 2014-2015 RLX quirk.

TampaRLX-SH

I do find the VR in the RLX less successful than my former RL. Commands that always worked in the RL may be recognized 75% of the time in the RLX. But there is a huge amount of additional feature commands in the RLX over the RL, which IMHO decreases the success rate of VR matches.

However the VR with the AcuraLink button is almost entirely successful. I assume it is a separate VR system. If it is...why are they not merged? If they are not, do they use the same microphones and logic as they behave differently. I would hope VR similar to Siri, Cortina or Goggle will become the standard, requiring less memorization of commands and used for all system (Navigation, phone and onboard systems)

I am thankful for the triple redundancy Acura has built I and I find touchscreen or wheel controls faster and more responsive. VR is cool to show off to passengers, but cross talk of passengers (we have no MUTE button for pax) confuses the system. The few times I had to use VR while underway, I had mixed success with the features locked out whole in drive.

*** Greetings fom Curacao***

RLX-Sport Hybrid

From my experience, I have simply touched the phone button on the dash, then use the VR button on the steering wheel. I then say "Phone Call", the name of the person I want to call, and select which one of their numbers I want to dial by announcing the number associated with that particular number (ex: #1 = home, #2 = cell, etc...). It seems to work for me every time and I don't have any issues switching calls when someone else calls in. However, my wife when she is in either the MDX or the RLX (rarely), who uses an iPhone, has many interface issues when she is on a call and another one interrupts her. She jumps into private mode or it disconnects both calls when she tries to answer the second one. Very frustrating for her. I do not have the same experience in either vehicle as I use an Android OS. Seems like an interface issue with the Acura system as a whole in that one aspect with the iPhone OS.

George Knighton

Same microphone.

Completely different computers.

The AcuraLink voice recognition is handled by a remote computer, owned by someone else, and the power of the computers and the heuristic routines can be upgraded much more easily than our onboard computers.

In the time since 10/2014 when I got my car, I have noticed an improvement in AcuraLink's responses. It's obvious to me that the hardware or software has been upgraded at least twice since I've owned my car.

One of those upgrades was only about two months ago.

George Knighton

You're not supposed to have to go through all of that.

When you start your car, the car uploads your iPhones Contacts in toto. So in theory (if it worked right), you're only supposed to have to press the voice command button and say the exact name in the Contacts.

You're not supposed to have to say "Phone call" first, press the "Phone" button first, or even say "Call so and so."

You should only have to say "So and So [name of contact]."

It works for me most of the time, but of course the times it does not work is when I want it to work the most. :-)

RLX-Sport Hybrid

GK, I have not tried that if you can believe it. I will next time I'm in the car. I just know what I know and keep doing it since it works.

getakey

The odd thing is that most of the time it recognizes my Mom's name well, but the times it does not, I cannot get it to work no matter how many times I repeat. Just to experiment, I tried it over and over approx 10 times and changed the way I said it (long short, etc). It becomes literally stuck on the wrong recognition.

George Knighton

Believe me, you're not alone. :-)

Malibu Flyer

Good suggestion, I'll give it a try. Thanks

Malibu Flyer

One thing that can help is to create a unique name for your mother. I happened on this when I changed my wife's first name to ICE since my understanding is that is an acronym for a emergency contact, i.e. someone else picks up your phone in an emergency and wants to contact your emergency contact. I have little problem when I use voice recognition for my wife since there is only one name in the phone book which includes ICE. Similar names make it harder for voice recognition, particularly when a large phone book. Mine totals several thousand contacts, in part because it has been created from decades of work and my laziness in not weeding out old or repetitive contacts.

getakey

My Mom's first and last are both simple one syllable. The VR is not confusing with other contacts. It is recognizing as the numbers 5 and 2 and starts to dial 52

George Knighton

I've had similar occurrences. It's maddening.

It isn't fixed until the next time you start the car.

fsmith

Luck you. Are you diving? I have never been to Curacao, but have been diving in Bonaire, where the diving is great! By the way, I agree that the voice recognition in my SH-AWD is not up to even older standards. I also use the pre-programmed favorites, which are called up from the steering wheel and appear in the HUD.

getakey

Exactly. Thats the odd part. you would think that if you back out of VR and then start all over, it would not re-recognize it the same without some bias in play. Its like, oh he just said this before, so I'm not going to reengage all of the VR algorythms

fsmith

Oops. "Lucky you"!

getakey

Don't hijack my thread - just kidding
I did a lot of diving in Okinawa back when I was in HS. Great diving there. Have not done much since. Only a few dives in Hawaii and it is not that great.

TampaRLX-SH

Luck you too!

Yes, also Bonaire and Aruba.

neuronbob

I forgot to mention that with my recent experiences in 2016 MDX and RDX loaners, the VR is much better, so there have clearly been some upgrades. This will be something else I look at as I begin test drives for my RLX replacement.

R. White

Interesting name for a wife. Did you marry my first wife ?

George Knighton

The nature of the error causes me to believe that the problem is *created* during the upload of Contacts when the device is recognized, or during the creation of the voice tags/commands associated with your Contacts.

This would explain why you have to restart the vehicle.

Acura Bluetooth isn't 100% with Apple Bluetooth, I guess. Since about Beta 6 of the 10.2 rollout, I have not had the problem. But there's still time. 0_o

Re-pairing would also fix the issue, but that's so complicated you're going to want to just restart the car instead.

George Knighton

It also takes far too long to download the Contacts and create the voice commands once the pairing takes place.

It shouldn't take nearly that long, and perhaps if it must take that long they should consider not creating the commands for your Contacts, and force you to use your device's hands free instead of the vehicle's.

When the Contacts are uploading, it looks like the Acura makes a mistake with the phonetics of the voice tag, and it's a one-time thing, *or* the Contact list is garbled when it is uploaded, and it's a one-time thing.

George Knighton

That's it.

I'm flying to Torrance.

Provided they let me on the plane with this baseball bat.

YeuEmMaiMai

I do not let my car do voice commands, I rely on the phone to do it and it works better anyways.

getakey

did some experimenting on the voice command
Oddly enough, the faster I say the name, the better it recognizes.
For example, my mom's first name/last name are both one syllable. If I say name with a distinct pause in between first/last, it does not work. If I say name with no pause between first/last it works all the time.
Same with other names with multiple syllables.

George Knighton

Yup. People always screw up by slowing down and trying to enunciate.

A friend can get Siri to recognize the Welsh name of a friend's home, just by saying it normally.

It sounds like : kaer-haul-thiddles-wuth-dynn

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