LAS VEGAS — The best thing about being out of the office is being unavailable for certain meetings.Evil geniuses Volvo and Microsoft are about to end all that. The two companies have collaborated on an in-car solution to this office absentee problem: integrating Skype for Business in a Volvo car.
Maybe Volvo should take most of the blame... er... credit since it's the one integrating existing business communication technology in its 90 Series cars.
The application will appear on the automobile's huge in-dash touchscreen, connecting to your smartphone to complete the call. Mashable was promised a hands-on demo of Skype integration later this week. We'll report back on our findings.
In a press release on the new technology, which will be on display this week at CES,
Anders Tylman-Mikiewicz Volvo's vice president of consumer connectivity
services explained his company's fascination with making group meetings
happen when you're on the go this way, “We’ve all been there. Sitting
in the car trying to join a conference call. You either fumble with or
drop your phone while trying to connect or you forget the long PIN code
to join. It’s not the best way to start an important call in the car. On
top of all that your attention is not where it should be — on the road.
With the addition of Skype for Business all that goes away."Along with Skype for Business, Microsoft is also bringing its digital voice assistant, Cortana, to Volvos, which means the cars will get voice recognition and access to Cortana's Bing- and AI-based intelligence. Perhaps you'll not only be able to attend meetings while in your Volvo, but have all the answers, too.
Maybe being able to attend all those meetings no matter where you are isn't such a bad thing.
