Hulamau

My voice recognition in my 2016 A6 3.0T Prestige has been flawless so far. I dont use all the MMI functions but do use google maps and a few other features and after the software update before this latest one, that I have not yet been able to DL as I missed it when it was first listed on the MMI screen to update.

My only issue so far is with getting that update to show again so I can DL and execute it and I see no option in the settings to offer 'software Update' or some such wording. Other than that Ive have a great experience with my MMI so far and certainly with voice recognition which has so far flawlessly recognized by my voice and my wife's voice when she occasionally is in my car, either as a passenger or driver, when not in her own 2015 A4.

I got my car last June 12 2015 not long after these mid-cycle refresh 2016 A6s first started hitting US shores, and I ordered my from Neckarsulm in late March of 2015, if that means anything in terms of possible differences in production dates etc,?

Anyway, perhaps this latest MMI update which I have not yet installed has a voice recognition gremlin but kind of doubt it, especially of some others have similar issues from prior to this latest update.

Hulamau

4apex

So in my last post I said that since voice recognition was so bad, at least I still had the "send to car" option through google maps, and the MMI app.

WRONG.

So last week i was headed to the Walt Disney Concert Hall, the address is <b>111 S. Grand Ave, Los Angeles, CA</b>. I searched the location on the MMI app using voice recognition on the phone, it found it just fine. I then "sent" the address to MyAudi from the MMI app, and said it was sent successfully. Once on my way, I switched to Destination--> Online Destinations --> Destinations from MyAudi account. Of course it asked me for my PIN (ARGHH.. REALLY?!?!?), so I entered the PIN and there it was. I selected Walt Disney Concert Hall, and this is what came up (see attached image):
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<img src="http://www.mywatchpics.com/images/2016A6/MMI_error.jpg">
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Seriously. I guess if I just trusted the MMI app and navication, I'd be there in about a week.
I've since tried several other addresses through the MMI app, and they all come over wrong or corrupted.

In my 2013, I used to use google maps on my computer then "send to car", which always worked great. So I tried that the other day, and when I retrieved the address from MyAudi (after entering the PIN, of course), I got a message that "the entire address did not come through, please enter the missing lines manually" (something like that), so when I clicked on it to enter the missing lines, EVERYTHING was missing. And this is not the first time. other times I've tried to use the google maps, the street or house number is missing.

So then I tried using a google search with voice recognition "Google search Doubletree Hotel Los Angeles, California" it understood me perfectly and found the Doubletree Hotel. When I then clicked to Start Route Guidance, the address came up with just the city. No street, no house number.

I should add that I've found several other posts in other Audi model forums with the same issue with the MMI app and Google Maps Send to Car.

I'm now convinced that there is a problem with my car. Here's my thinking;

Manually inputting an address with the touchpad or **** works fine. So I think that any manual input goes directly to the NAV system.

All other input methods; voice recognition ("Enter Destination"), MMI App, Google Maps Send to Car, Google Search, etc, are layers atop the NAV system. So the voice recognition accepts voice input, but then as it passes that data over to the NAV, something gets corrupted or lost. Same with all other input methods, after the input, the top layer (AudiConnect, MyAudi), then passes that data on to the NAV system, and again, something gets lost or corrupted as the data is being transferred. I have 20+ years of experience with complex computer networks and systems, so from my point of view, this is how I see it. i could be wrong of course, but now that I've tried a bunch of different methods to get data to the NAV, and they ALWAYS fail, I'm going to push this with Audi and try and get some resolution. I know I'm not alone.

Oh, and the PIN, the F*&#^ING PIN, I hope they fix that too. So dumb to have to enter it in every time.

radarguy

@4APEX – I don’t think anything is wrong with your car. Let us know if you find something that is correctable. Mine operates exactly the same way.

snagitseven

I guess I'll hang on to my 2013 A6. My voice recognition works extremely well, addresses are right on so long as I enter the whole address with number, street, city and state with short pauses between each. Online destinations gives me what I'm looking for 95% of the time and I never need to reenter my PIN. Either Audi has degraded the system for 2016 or perhaps some users having difficulties are not doing something correctly.

4apex

So here's the thing... I don't think voice recognition is bad. IN fact, I think it's quite good. See, if I use voice recognition for other functions; making phone calls - either by speaking the number or speaking a contact - it works PERFECTLY. If I use voice recognition for the audio system (volume control, next track, etc), it works perfectly.

it appears that the car CAN understand my voice commands. The only issue I'm having with voice recognition has to do with the navigation system. So like I said, it's my belief that the voice recognition is one "module" in the MMI system, which then passes the data over to the Navigation system, which is another "module" in the MMI system. And from my technical perspective, as the data gets passed from one module to another, something happens and the data gets corrupted, or it's simply not accepted by the second module (in this case, the navigation system).

This is why I think your issue 4 and 5 are related, because those are other modules that feed into the navigation module.

Again, just my theory.
That, along with the state and PIN thing are just annoying as all hell. Stupid, as you say.

4apex

Same here. My 2013 worked flawlessly with voice recognition on all functions. And online destinations, along with google maps, was just awesome to have.


Same on my 2013. in the 3 1/2 years that I owned it, I probably had to re-enter the pin maybe 3 or 4 times. And I think it was because I tried to access the MyAudi option a little too soon after starting the car. But otherwise, it was pretty much set and forgotten about. This having to re-enter the pin every time I start the car (assuming i need to access anything on AudiConnect) is annoying and plain stupid.

Lmcgill

After finally getting my Navigation to work (took 4 days at the dealer over two attempts, new antenna first try, didn't work, then a new coax cable which fixed it), I find the voice recognition on Nav horrible. Finally ended up spelling street etc into the microphone and it worked, very frustrating. I have had a 13 Explorer Sport that was better and we have a 2015 Jeep Gr Cherokee Summit that works very good.

4apex

Wanted to post an update.

I finally reached a point of frustration so I opened called Audicare and complained about the system. Fortunately the girl I was talking to was very receptive to my comments and sort of acknowledged that they were aware of the problem. I was asked to forward the same pictures that I posted here so that they could be sent to Germany. I've heard from the same girl at Audi over the past few weeks, each time asking more questions or just letting me know that Germany is still looking into it.

Late last week they asked me to log into the MyAudi account from my desktop computer and select AudiConnect services then select the "Destination entry via MyAudi".
Searching for a location through that option the address came up incorrect. For example, the location I looked up had an address of 151 S Grand Ave, Los Angeles, CA. But the search through MyAudi came up with "151 S. Grand Ave, Lo"

She mentioned once before that they believed the problem was with the back end servers, and this sort of confirmed it. I can see how this would affect the Google maps Send-to-car feature, and how it would affect the MMI app search feature. I just don't know how this would affect the voice entry feature, unless the speech is sent to their servers for interpretation then the results sent back to the car (google's voice recognition on Android phones does in fact send the voice input to googles servers for proper translation to text).

The girl I'm working with said she should have more answers or information next week. I'm just glad that they're taking this serious and are working on it.

Oh... and I did mention my frustration with the PIN issue, and she said that while they acknowledge the issue, right now it's down low on their list of priorities.

19hole

The PIN issue has been "low" on the list for the better part of two years now. I have no expectation that they will ever fix it.....

radarguy

@4apex - Keep pushing and keep us informed. You are doing all of us a big favor.