A fairly significant step up in voice technology was unveiled by Google this week - with car rental featured in an example of how personalization will be used by the Assistant.
Google Assistant will now complete tasks on a website (mobile or desktop), following a command from the user.
For example, a user will say: "Google, book an Avis car for my next trip."
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The technology then takes over, knowing that the user is traveling on a certain date and location (because of Google Calendar) and at what time (because of an air ticket confirmation email).
It will work through the booking process on the car rental supplier's website, populating the fields with the user's personal information and preferences (likes a small hatchback, rather than a large saloon, etc).
When a particular, previously unknown element comes up during the booking flow, the user is asked to make their selection.
At the end of the process, a user confirms the details and gets a booking reference email.
The development is part of an expansion of the existing Duplex project launched last year, where bookings for a restaurant reservation could be made over the phone, using a human-sounding voice, on behalf of the user.
Initially, Google is focusing on rental car bookings and tickets for movies.
Speaking at the search giant's annual I/O event in the U.S., Google CEO Sundar Pichai says: "It's amazing to see the Assistant complete a task online, on your behalf, in a personalized way.
"This was not a custom integration," he adds. "This required no action on behalf of the business [supplier] to implement."
Google says the "early preview" of the technology this week will be followed by feedback sessions from users and businesses about how the experience works.
It hopes to share more developments on Duplex For The Web, as the project is now called, later this year, Pichai says.
* Check the Google I/O keynote from 18m00s for the demo and Pichai's commentary.
Google Keynote at Google I/O 2019