SoundHound AI, Inc. (NASDAQ: SOUN), a global leader in voice and agentic AI, has deployed its generative AI voice technology in the Kia Sorento, marking a significant milestone in the Indian automotive market.
The integration represents the global debut of the Kia AI Assistant with Real-Time Generative AI for the Sorento lineup, making it a category first in the Indian market.
SoundHound’s proprietary voice AI platform powers the system, activated by the “Hey Kia” wake-up command, which enables continuous, multi-turn conversational support designed to handle complex requests in real time.
Drivers can use natural, conversational speech to adjust climate controls, cabin lighting, windows, and driving modes without relying on rigid, pre-programmed phrases or commands.
The system also gives passengers instant access to vehicle information drawn from the digital owner’s manual, covering features like hybrid powertrain functions and specialized seating configurations.
A dynamic conversational search capability delivers real-time information, localized point-of-interest navigation, news updates, and contextual Q&A engineered for high accuracy in noisy cabin environments.
Keyvan Mohajer, CEO and Co-Founder of SoundHound AI, commented on the deployment, saying “The new Kia Sorento is a standout vehicle, and we’ve delivered an equally powerful voice experience to match.”
Mohajer added that “as demand for intelligent vehicles accelerates across India, extending our AI technology further into Kia’s premier models marks another leap forward in scaling our technology across high-growth international markets.”
The deployment builds on SoundHound’s expanding agentic voice AI presence across global automotive markets, with its OASYS platform driving increased adoption among major manufacturers.
SoundHound’s OASYS platform is described as a self-learning, orchestrated AI system that allows organizations to build and deploy conversational AI agents to handle transactions, tasks, and workflows on behalf of customers and employees.
The company holds more than 750 patents backing its proprietary AI technology, which currently powers millions of products and processes billions of interactions annually for enterprise customers worldwide.
The Kia Sorento integration reinforces SoundHound’s deepening footprint in India and continues a pattern of continuous unit expansion across high-volume international markets across the Asian automotive sector.
