The company had been developing the product with its client firms. It combines AI with cloud and IoT to provide āa transforming experience to customersā.
How does the product work? Kareem Yusuf, General Manager, Watson IoT at IBM explains the technology with an example.
You are on a business trip. Upon landing at the airport, Watson Assistant automatically checks into your hotel and your preferred rental car is not only ready, it has the hotel destination pre-programmed along with suggestions on where to get a latte on the way.
Nearing the hotel, the Watson Assistant in your car signals your arrival to the hotel and not only updates the room with your preferences for music, temperature, and lighting, it syncs your smartphone, calendar and email with the in-room wall dashboard.
āIt doesnāt just respond to a personās commands and provide generic information thatās publicly available. It can be accessed via voice or text interaction and gets to know a person more through each and every interaction, gaining greater insight into who they are, what makes them happy and more,ā according to Yusuf.
Tech firm Harman demonstrated the product in its digital cockpit solution featured in a Maserati GranCabrio. āAirwire, Munich Airport, Kaon Media, The Royal Bank of Scotland and our newest partner, IFTTT, all of which are turning to Watson Assistant to better engage their customers,ā said Yusuf.
These partners, he said, recognize that Watson Assistant can be embedded in any āthingā ā a car, hotel room, retail store, conference room and more.
āIt doesnāt just respond to a personās commands and provide generic information thatās publicly available. It can be accessed via voice or text interaction and gets to know a person more through each and every interaction, gaining greater insight into who they are, what makes them happy and more,ā Yusuf wrote in his blog.
(The journalist was in Las Vegas on the invitation of IBM)