SoundHound AI's Voice Revolution: Transforming Kia's Indian Market Presence

SoundHound AI, a leading innovator in voice-enabled AI and conversational intelligence technologies, has partnered with Kia Motors India to bring a powerful, custom voice interface to Kia's latest SUV, the Seltos. Powered by SoundHound Inc.'s Houndify™ voice AI platform, Kia Seltos drivers can speak queries and control various aspects of the car simply by using their natural voices. The Kia Seltos SUV launched in India earlier this month with support for understanding English, specifically Indian-English accents, with support for additional languages across the Indian region coming later.

The Houndify-powered Kia Seltos offers drivers the ability to use their natural voices to search in real-time for locations of interest, ask about the weather, date, and time, make a phone call, control the car's media and navigation, use in-car climate controls to adjust the temperature and fan speeds, and more. Thanks to Houndify's conversational voice interface, Kia Seltos drivers will not need to remember specific voice commands or phrases to control the various aspects of their car. Example queries include: "Please tell me today's weather," "I feel hot," "Change the temperature to 22 degrees celsius," "Would you please turn on the AC?" and "Turn the fan speed to Max."

Keyvan Mohajer, co-founder & CEO of SoundHound Inc., stated, "The Houndify platform is the perfect fit for automotive brands wanting to deliver an innovative, conversational, and personalized voice experience to their drivers. We're thrilled to continue expanding Houndify's global presence by partnering with Kia and enhancing the in-car driving experience for their Indian customers." Manohar Bhat, Vice President and Head of Sales and Market at Kia Motors, added, "Kia Motors' association with SoundHound Inc. is a fine example of our efforts to deliver the best of technology that adds comfort and elevates the driving experience. Since the inception of the Kia brand in India, we are committed to offering a product that is tailored according to our Indian customer needs and with Houndify technology in Seltos, our customers will have the convenience of giving voice commands to their cars without any tone modulation. We are also exploring the possibility of providing regional language support to offer additional convenience and a true Indian experience to our customers. With this association, we will set new benchmarks for in-car voice command technology in the Indian automobile industry."

The partnership between SoundHound AI and Kia Motors India represents a significant market opportunity for both companies. With a market cap of 2.4B, this expansion gives SOUN access to over 500 million Hindi speakers and future access to 10 additional regional languages. The integration into premium models like the 2025 Carnival and EV9 positions the technology in the higher-end segment first, targeting affluent consumers. This strategic move allows SoundHound to tap into the growing Indian market and capitalize on the increasing demand for voice AI technology in the automotive industry.



In conclusion, SoundHound AI's partnership with Kia Motors India brings its voice AI technology to a market of over 500 million Hindi speakers, with plans to expand to 10 additional regional languages. The proprietary Speech-to-Meaning® and Deep Meaning Understanding® technologies set SoundHound apart by enabling real-time conversation interpretation and complex queries. This competitive edge can help SoundHound's voice AI technology gain traction in the Indian market, as it offers a more advanced and user-friendly experience compared to other voice AI solutions. As the technology expands to include 10 additional regional Indian languages, SoundHound can further tap into the diverse linguistic landscape of the country, setting new benchmarks for in-car voice command technology in the Indian automobile industry.