Google Duplex, an automated service that calls up businesses to make bookings on your behalf has received a limited public launch. It was demoed at its I/O 2018 developers conference in May.
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Google Duplex Expands
Now, according to a from VentureBeat, Google Duplex has expanded from a “set of trusted tester users” earlier this year to a “small group” of Google Pixel phone owners in “select cities”, which refers to the previously announced pilot metros of New York, Atlanta, Phoenix, and San Francisco.
What if you’re not in the “trusted tester” group? you’ll likely get an error along the lines of “Sorry, I can’t call to make reservations for you yet, but here’s their phone number: [10 digits].” Do note, only Pixel phones are supported right now, meaning no smart displays or other handsets, and Google Assistant will only make English-speaking calls in the cities that Google has specifically selected for the trial.
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It’s unclear how long it’ll take for the service to overcome each of these limitations, but since Google is recording all its current Duplex calls it’s likely to be gathering a lot of important usage data now that the rollout has begun.
Google Duplex Working
The option to have Google Assistant make the call can be accessed either by generally asking for it to “make a reservation,” or you can find a specific restaurant and request a table from there. A quick back and forth conversation with Google then occurs in which you give details such as the party size, date, time, and give a backup phone number.
Once the booking has been made it gets transferred into your “My Reservations” list along with other appointments that have been pulled from your emails or manually added to your calendar. Google is yet to confirm when the service may become more publicly available.
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