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ATX, IBM to Collaborate on Speech Recognition Interface for Automakers, Wireless Carriers

15 June 2000

ATX, IBM to Collaborate on Speech Recognition Interface for Automakers, Wireless Carriers

    DALLAS - "Keep your eyes on the road and your hands upon the wheel ..." the 
old Doors song goes.  ATX Technologies, Inc., a leading telematics service 
provider to the automotive and wireless markets, announced today that it will 
make that possible by collaborating with IBM.

    ATX will use IBM's Direct Talk voice processing platform and ViaVoice(TM) 
speech recognition technology to deliver ATX's telematics services such as 
location-based routing assistance and, eventually, position-based commerce 
(p-commerce(TM)) transactions.  The resulting voice-operated interface will 
enhance the motorist's telematics experience, adding convenience and greater 
safety through hands-free, voice-driven access to services.

    ATX will work with IBM to deliver an interface to the IBM Direct Talk voice 
processing platform that is operated by the user with natural voice commands, 
with most information delivered in a voice format.  Whether the driver wants 
directions, traffic information or e-mail, voice response can deliver the 
information quickly, efficiently and safely without the driver having to operate
console buttons.  If users cannot get the information they need from automated 
response, their telematics systems will also allow them to talk directly with 
an operator.

    Steve Millstein, president, ATX Technologies, Inc., says the voice
interface and the modular nature of the new platform will enable new automated
text-to-voice information services and other non-emergency, location-based
telematics services to be compatible with today's generation of telematics
hardware.

    "For automakers, this means a variety of information services can be added
without them having to make a sizable investment in new hardware inside the
vehicle for storing and displaying information for the driver," explained
Millstein.  "It also means forward and backward compatibility.  The automaker
can add a service tomorrow to a car made yesterday."  ATX expects the appeal
of the new services and low costs to speed telematics penetration of the
automotive market.

    "The new interface will be more convenient, faster and safer for the
user," said Millstein.  "IBM has 30 years of experience in voice recognition
technology and, with the ViaVoice product, we will bring customers the
accuracy, reliability and convenience they expect from us."

    "IBM's goal is to make conversational computing a reality from anywhere at
anytime," said W.S. "Ozzie" Osborne, general manager of IBM Voice Systems.
"By working with innovative companies such as ATX to provide ViaVoice-enabled
and hands-free telematics solutions, we are accelerating the acceptance of
voice technology as the future human-to-computer interface."

    The Strategis Group, a research firm based in Washington, D.C. that tracks
the telematics industry, forecasts the market for vehicular telematics to
dramatically expand over the next several years, with at least 45 percent of
cars and 25 percent of wireless phones having access by 2008.

    That expansion is dependent on the ability of telematics service providers
to deliver high-value services to low-cost telematics hardware, with the key
being a combination of voice response, voice recognition, and text-to-voice
technology in telematics response centers.  Millstein made those points at the
2000 SAE International Congress in Detroit during a panel discussion entitled
The Future of Telematics.

    "Voice technologies allow us to deliver services such as navigation,
e-mail and the Internet with less investment in new hardware for the car,"
said Millstein.  "We will continue to support live operator response to handle
critical situations requiring human judgment and contact-emergencies,
accidents and the like."

    "More sophisticated equipment in the car will appear in the next few years
with greater market penetration," Millstein added.  "But new services are the
key now, not new hardware.  This solution should help us reach motorists
18-25 who want higher-tech products and services."

    ATX Technologies, Inc. is headquartered in San Antonio with offices in
Dallas, and Detroit.  ATX provides leading-edge telematics services for mobile
applications including automatic collision notification, location-based
emergency response and roadside assistance, stolen vehicle tracking,
navigation and other location-based information services.  The company
pioneered in-vehicle and automotive after market applications of telematics
beginning in 1995 and in 1999 introduced telematics services in handheld
wireless devices.  ATX customers include Mercedes-Benz, Ford, Nissan Motor
Corporation's Infiniti division, Jaguar, Lincoln-Mercury, and Alpine
Electronics of America.  For more information, visit http://www.atxtechnologies.com.

    With more than 30 years in research and development, 150 patents and
250 researchers, IBM is a leader in speech recognition technology.  With more
than 10 million users, IBM is the only company to offer its speech recognition
technology on all of the most popular desktop operating platforms -- Windows,
Linux and Macintosh.  Using voice as an interface will dramatically improve
the way people interact with computers and drive the evolution of transparent
computing -- making the human-to-machine interaction easier and more natural.