German Autolabs is a technology startup specializing in AI (artificial intelligence). It develops intelligent IoT solutions to make driving more pleasant, safe and human. By applying the latest state-of-the-art software technologies, interaction methods and artificial intelligence, the Berlin-based company works on solutions for consumers to connect their digital lives to every car. The founders Holger G. Weiss (former CEO, Aupeo) and Patrick Weissert (former Director Consumer, HERE) rely together on 30+ years on Automotive & Connected Car experience.

We are the “heads-down generation,” addicted to content and digital communication that immediately becomes inconvenient, stressful and, more importantly, very dangerous when we are driving a car. The only safe and convenient way as a driver to keep up with the stream of content we receive (emails, messages and apps) is to operate them using only your voice and simple gestures. This is why we are developing an intelligent solution that will function as a digital co-driver to keep the driver connected to the digital world without touching his/her smartphone.

It’s an excellent way to involve our future users to help shape the product. We will connect with our community and listen very carefully to what the specific needs of drivers are. The funds we will generate will help to build the product faster as well.

Our management team consists of experienced automotive experts, entrepreneurs and developers. We are all have either led our own companies or worked as department heads in our previous jobs so we like to think we know our stuff. We left these to found German Autolabs as we believe in the revolutionary potential of Chris, the world's first digital co-driver.
Our software and AI development team is based in Berlin & Palo Alto. For hardware engineering and production we are partnering with experienced suppliers of consumer electronics and automotive industries with a strong footprint in Europe, North America and Asia.

Chris supports:
- Messaging: WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, e-Mail, SMS (sending on Android only)
- Calls: Hands-free calling, voice activated address book and recent calls
- Music: Spotify, Apple Music, Google Music and music stored on the device like MP3 files, your iTunes music library - also FM radio
- Navigation: Offline turn-by-turn navigation, real time traffic-navigation, find gas stations, parking, restaurants and other points of interest

We will be updating Chris with new software and integrations regularly, so the initial services Chris offers are only the first step on a continuously expanding roadmap of supported services.

70% of drivers admit to using their smartphone every now and then in the car. Chris is for everyone, whether you’re a commuter, a parent driving the kids to school or a businessman or woman travelling to your next appointment. It makes your drive smarter and more fun by keeping you connected to the world in a way that is convenient, easy, intelligent and optimized for the car environment.

AI covers a range of features. For example, the speech recognition is driven by the AI. This part includes ASR (automatic speech recognition), NLU (natural language understanding), dialogue management, natural language generation and text-to-speech (TTS) technologies. Another feature is learning driver behaviour and preferences through the drivers interaction with Chris. And Chris includes context analysis of the driving situations and complexity.

Chris is able to speak English and German, and more languages are planned for the future.

Chris will first be available for pre-order on the crowdfunding platform Kickstarter, the campaign will start March 28 and end May 2, 2017. Shipment of first rewards is planned for December 2017, retail availability will follow in 2018.

Chris works with all modern smartphones, both iPhones and Android. Supported smartphone operating systems are: iPhones with iOS 10 and later, and Android smartphones with Android 4.4 (KitKat), 5.0 and 5.1 (Lollipop), 6.0 (Marshmellow) and 7.0 (Nougat).

No, Chris only works in combination with a supported smartphone (both iOS and Android are supported)

Yes, Chris can do most things offline, for example read messages, interact with the driver, navigate. Some specific tasks may require an online connection, like dictating messages.

The Chris smartphone app connects Chris to the supported apps on your smartphone, to cloud services like Email and to your user account.

No, Chris comes with a free smartphone app (both iOS and Android) to establish the connection between the device and the apps on your smartphone.

Chris fits in every car, and it can connect to almost all car audio systems, either through Bluetooth (if supported by the car), or FM (for all others). If for some reason you cannot connect to a car audio system Chris also has a built in speaker so it can still read messages, interact with the driver and give navigation instructions.

Sure - Chris has a build in speaker that’s just perfect for conversational tasks. Don’t expect it to play your favourite music out loud in the quality of normal stereo though.

Chris comes with a snap in mount so it can quickly be plugged in when getting into the car and back out when leaving the car. The mount should always be connected to a power supply, and we will provide a cable that is long enough to be adjusted in the car such that it’s barely visible. The battery lasts for roughly 1 hour in full operation.

No, the battery is built-in. But don’t worry, it will last for many years in normal use.

Chris has a magnetic snap-in mount where you can mount and unmount Chris in seconds. Always take Chris with you when you leave the car so it wont get stolen. Chris is small enough to fit into the pockets of coats, handbags and rucksacks.

Chris itself does not have subscription fees associated. Depending on your data plan and the features you use you may incur subscription fees with your mobile provider. If you want to avoid subscription fees switch Chris to “offline mode” and it will only use features which do not require a data connection.

We are storing data such as your username and password for the purposes of authenticating you, and user preferences and settings like “Home”, “Work” and favourite destinations, user contacts, and your usage history for the purposes of personalizing, optimizing and improving the Chris experience for you. This information is encrypted and stored securely.

For the first version we are planning to provide one very high quality voice. There are not many high quality voices out there and we want to ensure you get the best experience possible. It will be female. In the future, as the quality of voices available improves, we want to enable alternative voices as well.

Everything that you need to use Chris:
- Chris device
- Mount for windshield and dashboard
- Charging cable (USB 2.0 A to Micro USB)
- Single port 12V car charger for the cigarette lighter; once we hit the stretch goal: dual-port 12V car charger with 2 USB outputs (1x for Chris and 1x for your smartphone)

In less than 3 minutes Chris is connected to your smartphone and your car audio. You can definitely do it by yourself, it was designed to be very easy to install, like a Sat Nav.

On the windscreen and on your dashboard.

Yes, absolutely no problem. This should take only a couple of minutes to remove from one car and install it in the other car.

Sure, each user simply creates their own profile. So every smartphone will have it’s own account and profile.

Yes, you can connect it to your car audio either using Bluetooth, if your car supports Bluetooth audio, or through FM, if your car audio does not.

The power cable will be installed all the time, but it will be hidden from view, so it’s essentially “invisible”. You don’t need to connect the charging cable every time you get into the car because the charging cable is connected to the mount which will stay in the car. The mount has a very easy snap-in connection to the Chris device, you just get into the car, snap Chris into the mount, and it is connected to the power cable right away and you are ready to go.

Yes, you will configure an account so that Chris can optimize the driving experience for you personally. The account will be managed through the smartphone app, so even if more than one people use the same Chris device, it will always connect to your account only for you.

Yes, the account is managed through the smartphone app, so every smartphone will have it’s own account and profile.

Chris will allow you to swipe left and right, up and down, increase/decrease the volume (of calls, navigation, music) and mute/unmute. You can also wake up Chris with a gesture if it is in sleep mode.

Chris has a transmissive 320x320px TFT full colour display.

Chris has a simplified navigation display, which is very accurate and easy to read. This makes it easy to navigate, and makes following directions a lot less distracting than on Sat Nav.

Yes, you don't have to worry about paying the tax.

No, but you would be asked to pay for the shipping in the checkout process. We ship some rewards to the US, Canada and EU, with the flat-rate of 7 EUR for a single device. Others are shipped globally for a flat fee of 20 EUR.

It is possible to cancel the pledge anytime during the Kickstarter campaign is live. Once the campaign is completed and the goal has been reached, your pledge can not be cancelled any more.