Kia showed off its new Microsoft-powered UVO system at the 2010 CES, which brings voice command for music and phones into its cars.
Wayne Cunningham
Wayne Cunningham reviews cars and writes about automotive technology for CNET's Roadshow. Prior to the automotive beat, he covered spyware, Web building technologies, and computer hardware. He began covering technology and the Web in 1994 as an editor of The Net magazine.
Now that Ford's exclusive arrangement with Microsoft has ended, Kia adopts the Microsoft automotive platform for its own voice command audio and Bluetooth system. Kia calls the system UVO, which it says means "your voice."
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As with Ford Sync, Kia UVO lets you plug a variety of MP3 players into a USB port in the car. The system works with iPods and any other MP3 player certified under Microsoft's PlaysForSure, including the Zune.
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A small touch-screen interface shows music library categories from any connected device. Music can be browsed on the touch screen or through voice command. The system lets you say "Play Led Zeppelin," for example, and it will locate music by that artist on your device and play it.
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UVO includes 1GB of internal flash storage. You can copy music to it from MP3 CDs and USB drives to have an onboard music library, also accessible through voice command.
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UVO's voice command also works with satellite and terrestrial radio. With satellite radio, you need merely say the channel number or name to tune it in.
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When you pair a phone to UVO, it reads the phone's contact list, letting you make calls by saying a contact's name. The system will ask if you want home, mobile, or any other category of phone number available. You can also specify which number, such as mobile, in the initial command.
