Digital avatars for travel with Robert Cunningham, Innovation Manager, LNER

Robert Cunningham of LNER chats to us about digital avatars, their use in travel and the success it brings.

Presented by Deepgram

Deepgram is a Speech Company whose goal is to have every voice heard and understood. We have revolutionized speech-to-text (STT) with an End-to-End Deep Learning platform. This AI architectural advantage means you don’t have to compromise on speed, accuracy, scalability, or cost to build the next big idea in voice. Our easy-to-use SDKs and APIs allow developers to quickly test and embed our STT solution into their voice products. For more information, visit:

• Deepgram website
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Digital Avatars in train stations

London North Eastern Railway has been trialling digital avatars in its train stations to help travellers with a wide variety of needs. Innovation Manager, Robert Cunningham, joins us to share the LNER journey into conversational AI applications and discusses the why, what and how.

00:00 Intro and Welcome Deepgram
2:26 Introduction to Robert Cunningham and about LNER
10:30 Natural language technology and tooling maturity
15:36 LNER conversational automation journey
20:30 Where robert started with AI LNER
22:50 How the avatar was positioned purely for LNER
26:10 How to encourage the customer to speak in a natural language friendly manner
27:50 How to help people understand how to use the avatar
30:40 Figuring out what people would need to know from the avatar
35:00 The trial in Newcastle train station
41:00 The development process
49:45 Making people understand they are speaking to a bot not a human
53:40 The success from the trial
1:01:37 Outro