Currently (pun intended), I own a 2024 Prius Prime plug-in Hybrid.
Soon after buying this, I found it flashing warning messages I wasn’t aware existed. My car has criticized my posture, telling me to “Sit Up!” and reminded me to pay attention by flashing “Driver Inattention Detected” on the main screen. That’s fine. It only told me to sit up once. And it has slowed down on reminding me to pay attention, so I guess I must be paying better attention, or at least getting better at looking around while keeping my head forward.
This was different.
I was driving home through town in the center lane of three lanes. A huge four-wheel pickup was in front of me at a red light. When the light turned green, in the space of one block, he went to the left lane, crossed to the right lane, and back to the left again, eventually turning left.
I said aloud, “What the heck are you doing?” or words to that effect.
My car’s feminine voice said, “I can’t understand what you are saying. Speak more clearly . . .”
That may not be the exact wording. Of course, I said, “Was I talking to you? I don’t think so.”
It didn’t respond. Of course.
In theory, the system can respond to specific commands if I start with the words, “Hey Toyota…” If the pickup truck had been a Toyota, I may have said, “Hey, Toyota driver, what are you doing?” But it wasn’t a Toyota.
There are also two buttons, one on the steering wheel and the other on the center console display. The one on the display requires me to lean and touch a small microphone icon, which may prompt the car to remind me to pay attention. The button on the steering wheel requires a definite push. Not to say it can’t be done by mistake, but my left hand wasn’t near the button, and trying to reach that button isn’t the easiest thing to do unintentionally.
Whatever I said, the car heard something that sounded like “Hey, Toyota. ” Since related tech like Siri and Lexus listens and responds to commands, it makes me wonder if everything I say is going to the Toyota Mother Ship so it can respond quickly to anything preceded by the command I never said.
So, my short relationship with my car’s female alter ego is over. The feature allowing the “Hey Toyota” keyword prompt is turned off now. If I need a voice command, the two buttons still work. Hearing “her” respond to my cussing at the truck’s driver was a bit creepy.
Memory is the Key 