Harman International and Chinese search engine Baidu will partner to offer speech-enabled smart speakers integrated with Baidu's artificial intelligence (AI) technology.
Dinesh Paliwal, chairman, president, and CEO of Harman, said: We are excited to expand Harman's relationship with Baidu. Now consumers will have the best of all worlds with flawless sound quality, award-winning Harman Kardon design and advanced speech-enabled capabilities for an exceptional listening experience."
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"The partnership between Baidu and Harman will let consumers use natural voice control to experience premium quality sound and on-demand services," said Andrew Ng, chief scientist of Baidu. "Harman will integrate a range of [our] AI technologies including speech recognition, natural language processing and speech synthesis."
In January 2015, Harman Connected Car and Baidu entered into a strategic collaboration to launch CarLife, a vehicle networking product that offers internet capabilities, entertainment features and location-based services on Harman infotainment head units designed for China. The new Kia K5 infotainment system developed by Harman Connected Car China was claimed to be the industry's first with Baidu CarLife that passed the Apple MFi certification. The new system is compatible with both Android smart phones and iPhones.
