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Automotive giant Ford has worked with Nuance Communications to enable its SYNC in-car software to understand a multitude of accents in a variety of languages.

The launch, timed with the European Day of Languages, allows drivers to make calls, play music, and set navigation in their local accent, increasing convenience and recognising diversity.

Ford of Europe Electronic and Electrical Systems Engineering global chief engineer, Christof Kellerwessel, said, “People rightly consider their accent a key to who they are as a person. Practically ensuring that you can easily communicate with your vehicle, whatever part of the country you are from, helps ensure a more convenient journey.”

The Ford SYNC system is available across most of the company’s line of vehicles and is offered in 17 language versions – Arabic, Australian English, Brazilian Portuguese, Canadian French, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Mandarin, Mexican Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Taiwanese Mandarin, Turkish, U.K. English, and U.S. English. The system utilises a dictionary, featuring alternative pronunciations of words, built with field recordings of several drivers across the globe.

SYNC is capable of quickly ascertaining and accommodating the driver’s accent and speech pattern. The system saves a file in its memory after the ignition is switched off and the system updates the file if another driver utilises the vehicle.

Take a look at a promotional video of SYNC below: