Cerence was founded in October of 2019, after Nuance Communications decided to turn its automotive division into an independent company. Nuance had provided voice recognition technology to car manufacturers for twenty years prior to the spin-off, and its technology was built into half of the new cars shipped globally in the first six months of 2019. Cerence's first official trading day on the Nasdaq exchange was October 2, 2019. The company assumed control of previously Nuance-held contracts with approximately 60 automakers including BMW, Ford, and Toyota. Since becoming its own entity, Cerence signed new deals to install voice recognition and assistance technology in Fiat Chrysler and Mercedes-Benz vehicles. In January of 2020, LG announced that it would start integrating Cerence’s voice assistant into its in-car infotainment systems.As of August 2021, Cerence’s AI assistant technology had been installed on over 400 million cars worldwide.Cerence received an Automotive News PACE Award in September 2021 for Cerence Pay, a technology that allows drivers to pay for fuel via voice commands.
