AppleInsider: Google duplex restaurant reservations reach the iPhone in the next few weeks

 

By Malcolm Owen
Wednesday, March 6, 2019, 12:55 pm, Pacific Time (15:55, Eastern Time)

Google is poised to expand the availability of Duplex, the automated calling feature for Google Assistant, iPhones, over the coming weeks. This allows users of PDAs to book tables in restaurants in 43 US states. ,

Introduced for the first time on Google I / O in May 2018, Duplex is a feature of Google Assistant that allows you to call companies on behalf of the user to schedule appointments or book services without having to talk to co-workers. Although it has been available on Google Pixel smartphones for some time, it can soon be used on the iPhone.

Scott Huffman, Deputy Vice President of Engineering at Google, released a blog Wednesday. With Duplex, restaurant reservations can be booked by phone in 43 US states. Currently, the search giant is limited to the pixel row and activates the duplex option in the Google Assistant, which runs on other Android devices, as well as in the iOS app .

The wizard uses Google's natural voice search feature to call the selected restaurant and ask the caller for a reservation. With an order like "Reserve a table for four people in the restaurant tomorrow evening", the assistant will tell you the size of the party, the time of the reservation and the name.

If the reservation is successful, the user will receive a notification on their device as well as an e-mail and an invitation to the calendar.

Google Duplex solves a problem where many small businesses do not offer an online booking system for their services, but have the ability to make appointments by phone. Various voices can be used, complemented by filling sounds such as "umm" and "ah" to make the virtual caller look more human, and the voice frequency can change spontaneously.

When booking, the technology helps Google to update its professional lists for the holidays. In addition, Google Maps can be updated with the right information so users of the search engine and application can do so. Cards get more accurate results.