After some two decades of talk and unmet requests, the demand for voice control on business aircraft is finally being answered. Several factors underpin the advance: voice control has become part of the fabric of everyday life, thanks to Alexa and Siri; evolving technology can now promise seamless simplicity for integrating voice control into cockpit and cabin systems; speech recognition and command are seen as essential for enabling aviation’s Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) future; and perhaps most importantly, research has shown that voice command can reduce workload and increase safety for flight crews. Here’s what companies leading the onboard voice command revolution are doing now and have planned.
Garmin International
Garmin International was the first avionics OEM to bring certified voice command capability to the cockpit, although a company called Voice Flight Systems was the first to obtain FAA approval, for the VFS101 voice command flight plan entry product for Garmin GNS navigators. Garmin's Telligence voice command was featured in a 2016 software upgrade for Garmin’s GTN 650/750 touchscreen navigator series displays paired with its GMA 350/GMA 35 audio panels. Telligence, engaged via a yoke-mounted push-to-command button, uses automatic speech-recognition technology that understands “intuitive phraseology,” the Olathe, Kansas company said, and it accepts hundreds of common task commands.
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