VinFast has announced a new partnership with Cerence Inc. to bring Cerence Sing – an in-car karaoke system that lets you belt tunes while driving – to its launch line-up of cars: the VF 8 and VF 9 electric SUVs.
Distracted driving is a serious issue, with the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration estimating that 10 percent of all fatal accidents and 18 percent of accidents resulting in injuries are categorized as "distraction-affected" crashes. Cerence, though, has a solution it believes will make its karaoke system safe to use while driving: voice control.
Cerence Sing uses voice control to operate the entire experience so you don't have to take your eyes off the wheel to tap a screen. The company says drivers can request, learn, and practice songs, as well as receive spoken lyrics and tips from the system.
That's while driving. While safely parked, Cerence Sing will enable Classic mode that adds a visual element using the main infotainment screen. In this mode, both driver and passengers can scroll and search for songs and lyrics will be displayed on the screen.
Cerence Sing uses the Stingray catalog of karaoke songs that includes 100,000 tunes, with lyrics in more than 12 languages. It's the same company that Tesla uses for its similar Caraoke system.
Two features of Cerence Sing that set it apart, though, are the ability for users to playback the songs they just sung and hear their own performance as well as use different voice-altering effects for more fun. And yes, Auto-Tune is one of them.
Cerence Sing will be launching in the VinFast VF 8 and VF 9. Both are SUVs from Vietnam-based electric car manufacturer VinFast, which plans to enter the US market by the end of 2022.
