EXTERIOR SPEECH INTERFACE FOR VEHICLE

Provided herein are systems and methods to control vehicular functions using voice commands that originate outside vehicles. A plurality of microphones can be disposed on an exterior of a vehicle, and can detect a voice command from a user located outside the vehicle. The voice command can include an activation phrase followed by an operational command. The at least one of the plurality of microphones can activate, responsive to the detection, a speech module of the vehicle from a low-power mode. The speech module can authenticate the user according to the activation phrase of the voice command, and can determine a vehicular function corresponding to the operational command of the voice command. The speech module can cause the vehicle to provide an indicator to acknowledge the operational command. The speech module can activate an electronic control unit (ECU) that corresponds to the vehicular function, to perform the vehicular function.