Revving Up Car Voice AI: Kardome Secures Investment from Leading Japanese Auto Fund

Automotive Fund's investment in Kardome is its first outside Japan. Kardome will use the capital to expand its business there.

Laura Tate

CMO

Kardome's car voice AI and spatial hearing technology

Kardome, based in Israel, has received a $1 million investment from Automotive Fund Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of MarkLines, an automotive information platform. The venture capital fund is specifically dedicated to the automotive industry and is the first of its kind in Japan. Notably, this investment marks the first time Automotive Fund Co., Ltd. has invested in a company outside of Japan.

Kardome's technology aims to provide drivers with seamless and natural voice interaction with their cars. Its voice AI and spatial hearing technology are designed to understand which person is talking, where they are located in the vehicle, and what they're saying, no matter how crowded or noisy the environment is. This means drivers can use natural-level voice commands to interact with their car voice assistants.

Automotive Fund expects the need for accurate speech recognition in noisy environments will increase with the growing use of robo-taxis and self-driving cars. Understanding that Kardome's technology will be necessary for further developing voice user interfaces, Automotive Fund has invested in the startup.

“I’m excited to work with Automotive Fund in further developing car voice AI technology in Japan and to help automakers provide their customers with voice recognition systems that work as they should,” said Dani Cherkassky, Kardome CEO. “Japan is leading the way in car voice recognition technology, and we are proud to be part of the evolution of this technology.”

The investment from the leading Japanese auto fund will enable Kardome to continue developing its car voice AI technology and make it available to manufacturers and OEMS to provide highly accurate car voice recognition systems. With the increasing demand for connected cars, Kardome's technology can become a standard feature in future car voice recognition systems.

Car voice AI is the future of the automotive industry, and Kardome is leading the way. Their technology has the potential to transform the way drivers interact with their cars, making the driving experience safer and more convenient. With this investment, Kardome can accelerate the development of its voice AI technology and bring it to more cars and drivers worldwide.