Integration in Kia’s flagship SUV builds on SoundHound AI’s momentum across fast-growing Asian automotive markets
SANTA CLARA, Calif., Sept. 30, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — SoundHound AI, Inc. (NASDAQ: SOUN), a global leader in voice and agentic AI, today highlighted the deployment of its voice and generative AI technology in the Kia Sorento in India. The integration underscores SoundHound’s deepening footprint across India, reinforcing continuous unit expansion across high-volume international markets.
With the Sorento in India, the Kia AI Assistant with Real-Time Generative AI makes its global debut, marking a first for the Sorento lineup and a category first in the market. Combining SoundHound’s proprietary voice AI platform with advanced generative capabilities, the “Hey Kia” wake-up command delivers continuous, multi-turn conversational support engineered to handle even complex requests in real-time:
- In-Cabin System Control: Drivers can intuitively adjust climate controls, cabin lighting, windows, and driving modes using natural, conversational speech without relying on rigid, pre-programmed phrasing.
- Hands-Free Vehicle Intelligence: Passengers can get instant answers to any question about their vehicle from the digital owner’s manual, and learn about features like hybrid powertrain functions or specialized seating settings.
- Dynamic Conversational Search: The system delivers real-time information, localized point-of-interest navigation, news updates, and contextual Q&A tailored for high-accuracy performance in noisy cabin environments.
“The new Kia Sorento is a standout vehicle, and we’ve delivered an equally powerful voice experience to match. We’re giving drivers effortless control over cabin systems, vehicle knowledge, and live navigation by using natural, everyday speech,” said Keyvan Mohajer, CEO and Co-Founder of SoundHound AI. “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.”
This integration builds on SoundHound’s expanding agentic voice AI deployments across automotive hubs globally, with its OASYS platform driving increased market adoption. By bringing advanced conversational capabilities to Kia’s flagship vehicles, SoundHound continues to scale its intelligent in-cabin technology across key international markets, delivering next-generation connected experiences to millions of drivers.
Learn more at, https://www.soundhound.com/industries/automotive.
About SoundHound AI
SoundHound AI (Nasdaq:SOUN) is a voice and agentic AI company that enables businesses to deliver natural, end-to-end conversational experiences across digital and physical channels, including phones, kiosks, chat, smart devices, drive-thrus, TVs, in-vehicle, and more. Its agentic platform, OASYS, is a self-learning, orchestrated AI system where organizations can build and deploy conversational AI agents to handle transactions, tasks, and workflows on behalf of customers and employees. Built on proprietary technology backed by 750+ patents and years of AI research, SoundHound serves leading brands across industries including automotive, financial services, healthcare, retail, telecommunications, and more. It powers millions of products and processes billions of interactions annually for enterprise customers worldwide. Learn more at: www.soundhound.com
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A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/b28aa34d-9ee4-4f6e-be92-112498f0b090
