HARMAN International, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. focused on connected technologies for automotive, consumer and enterprise markets, showcases its Premium Communications solution for the first time in China at the Shanghai Auto Show. Premium Communications is a first-of-its-kind modular offering designed to elevate today’s in-vehicle communication environment. Leveraging the world’s leading microphone, voice processing and noise cancelling technologies, Premium Communications enables clear, frustration-free conversations for all occupants within a vehicle – with each other, digital voice assistants and external call recipients.

“With handsfree calling and voice assistants now commonplace in vehicles, being able to clearly communicate on the go is more important than ever. Consumers expect technology that seamlessly adapts to their always-on, connected lifestyles and the car is no exception,” says Michael Mauser, President, Lifestyle Audio at HARMAN. “HARMAN’s new Premium Communications leverages the latest advancements in smart audio to personalize the sonic environment and improve all communication occurring in vehicles, whether it’s with a voice assistant, with someone on the other end of a phone call, or between passengers.”

With the help of AudioworX, HARMAN’s proprietary, open-framework development platform, Premium Communications was developed as a modular set of components that can be scaled across vehicle segments. Together, these technologies address the challenges of the evolving vehicle interior and help OEMs better capitalize on integrations with voice assistants, while fulfilling consumer demand for elevated communication experiences.

Features include:

In-Car Communication (ICC): Clear, seamless two-way communication among vehicle occupants for safer and more enjoyable drives

Clear conversation can be especially challenging in large vehicles with multiple seat rows, such as SUVs, and can easily become a safety issue. HARMAN’s In-Car Communication allows the driver to communicate directly with passengers in the back seats without needing to turn around or take their eyes off the road. Alternatively, passengers in the back can easily converse with those in the front, without the need to raise their voice or strain forward in their seats. Using microphones, voice processing technology and in-vehicle audio signal processing, ICC creates an ideal sonic environment to enhance the sounds you want to hear and reduce those you don’t. An always-on adaptive feature, ICC intuitively adjusts according to music volume or road noise for clear, two-way conversations among passengers – front to back and back to front.

ClearChat with Far-End Noise Cancellation: New levels of clarity for phone calls and voice commands

Anyone who has tried to have a phone conversation or command a voice assistant in a noisy car understands the frustration – and even distraction – it can cause. ClearChat combines world-leading beamforming microphones, echo cancellation and noise reduction algorithms to remove unwanted cabin noise -- including air conditioning, road noise or rear seat passengers -- for listeners on the receiving end of a call. Beamforming is a signal processing technique that employs direct signals at particular angles to ensure spatial selectivity. As a result, sonic clutter is reduced, and voice clarity is dramatically improved for stress-free communication with personal voice assistants and call recipients.

Personal Communication Zones: Seat-centric communication enables simultaneous interactions

In HARMAN’s top of the line communication offering, ClearChat technology extends beyond the driver for multi-passenger use, unlocking a personalized feature for today’s most discerning consumers – Personal Communication Zones. With seat-centric voice capability, this feature gives every occupant the freedom to simultaneously interact with the voice assistant of their choice. For phone calls, there are two major benefits:

1. A call can be passed around the vehicle, from seat to seat, so that each passenger can clearly communicate with the call recipient despite background music or entertainment in the vehicle.
2. Simultaneous phone calls can occur through the vehicle to different sources.

Multi VPA Capability: Freedom to use any voice assistant

Through one seamlessly integrated platform, HARMAN’s Premium Communications are compatible with all available virtual personal assistant (VPA) services in the market.

Premium Communications will be demonstrated at the HARMAN showcase at Shanghai Auto Show 2019.

HARMAN at Shanghai Auto Show 2019

We invite you to visit HARMAN during Shanghai Auto Show for demonstrations of the company’s full portfolio of connected car and lifestyle audio systems that elevate the connected life. You can find HARMAN at Hall 8.1 (Booth 8A21).