“Hi Proton” System Will Soon be Able to Understand Thai

One of the biggest highlights of the Proton X70, when it was first introduced, was the fact that it came with the "Hi Proton" voice command feature, thanks to the Geely Key User Interface (GKUI) system, and it is about to get even better.

Now that the feature has been integrated into every Proton model in the lineup including the upcoming X50, new Proton customers will be able to just “talk” to the car using the system, which is able to understand Mandarin, English, as well as “Manglish” to a certain extent.

In case you’re wondering what Manglish is, it’s the grammatically messed up Malaysian-ised English which only we locals understand. A perfect example would be the phrase “Where got?” - Yes, that’s Manglish right there.

The most recent development with the system is that it will be able to understand Thai very soon, according to Geely.

The Chinese carmaker released a statement yesterday saying that Proton is in the midst of developing a Thai version of the GKUI system.

In case you’re wondering why Thai is in the mix all of a sudden, Proton had already announced during the launch of the X70 that exporting the model is going to be one of the main strategies to ensure sales growth.

Now that the X70 is already being exported to Brunei, it looks like the model may be heading to Thailand as well.

Unlike Brunei and Malaysia where English is sufficient to communicate with the masses, Thailand, like Japan, still use their native language in most forms of communication, which explains why Proton is developing the GKUI system to be able to understand Thai.

At the same time, there have not been any updates on whether the GKUI system will be able to understand Bahasa Malaysia in the near future, but do we really need it? What do you think?.