You can already use your smartphone to locate the nearest Thai restaurant or find your way to the cheapest parking garage. But soon, you may be able to use your device to plan your entire day — from what bus you should catch in the morning to which restaurant you should swing by on your way to the airport.
A new software program that integrates with a phone's voice recognition system (such as Apple's computerized assistant, Siri) serves as both travel adviser and taskmaster. It can tell you what time the next bus will arrive, but it can also tell you to hustle if you're running late or whether you have time to grab a cup of coffee on your way to the bus stop.
The program, which is being developed by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), works by allowing users to specify their preferences — for example, by telling the software if they're willing to forgo going out for breakfast in order to catch the right bus.
"The idea is that you really have a dialogue with this system. You say what your goals are, and then it says either 'Yes, I can do it; here's the plan,' or, it says, 'No, I can't do it — here's why I can't, and here are some other options,'" said Brian Williams, a professor of aeronautics and astronautics at MIT and leader of the Model-based Embedded and Robotic Systems (MERS) group, which is developing the software.
The program, known as the Personal Transportation System, or PTS, was originally conceived as a joint project between the MERS group, the Center for the Study of Language and Information at Stanford University and aerospace giant Boeing, Williams told Live Science. Boeing tasked the researchers with creating an interactive system for a so-called Personal Air Vehicle — essentially, an autonomous flying taxi.
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