World’s first Bahasa Melayu voice assistant debuts in new Proton X50

KUALA LUMPUR: PROTON has just done something no other carmaker has pulled off yet – introducing a Bahasa Melayu voice recognition system in a production car.

The debut of the new “Aisyah” voice assistant comes with the launch of the all-new Proton X50, making it the first car in the world to offer full native BM voice command support.

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This isn’t PROTON’s first time dabbling with voice control. Back in 2018, they rolled out the “Hi Proton” system in the X70, which ran on the Geely Smart Ecosystem (GKUI). Then in 2022, the first-gen X50 introduced the ATLAS OS by ACO Tech with a localised English voice assistant. That system let you control things like your air-con, windows, phone calls, and even navigation — all hands-free.

But the new one in the just-launched X50 facelift takes things a step further. The infotainment display is now a 14.6-inch widescreen, and with it comes a fresh voice system that understands both English and Bahasa Melayu. The Bahasa side of things is entirely new, built from scratch in collaboration with ACO Tech.

And yes, it’s got a name — Aisyah.

The idea behind Aisyah was to create a more familiar, humanised interaction for local drivers. According to PROTON, she’s designed to feel more like a co-driver or family member rather than just a generic virtual assistant. The system was put together in just seven months, trimmed down from the original one-year timeline.

From October 2024 to May 2025, PROTON and ACO Tech collected 4,000 BM voice command variations, while also updating the English side with an equal number of new phrases. The team spent over 336,000 man-hours on the project, gathering audio samples from more than 200 native BM speakers — a balanced mix of men and women — to ensure the assistant understands not just standard phrases like “buka tingkap” but also more casual or natural variations like “bukakan tingkap”.

At the moment, the system works best with female voices, but the team is already working on expanding support for male voice profiles. Future versions might even support other Malaysian languages or dialects.

In terms of how well these systems are being used in the real world — it’s surprisingly a lot. PROTON’s data from June 2025 recorded 2.8 million interactions. The most spoken phrase? Just “Hello”, with 43,896 uses, followed by questions starting with “What” and commands like “Call”, with 40,779 and 24,647 uses respectively. In total, there were 228,046 active users for that month alone.

As with most modern systems, Aisyah will get smarter over time. Updates will be pushed over-the-air (OTA), allowing the assistant to understand more conversational phrases. So instead of saying “open sunroof”, you might eventually be able to just say “I want to see the sky” — and the system will know what to do.

Zhang Qiang, Deputy CEO of PROTON Edar, says this is a major step in localising tech for Malaysian users. “The introduction of Bahasa Melayu voice recognition in the All-New PROTON X50 solidifies PROTON’s position as a pioneer in automotive technology, truly embodying the spirit of ‘made by locals for the locals’. We are incredibly proud to introduce the world’s first Bahasa Melayu voice recognition system in the All-New PROTON X50. It is a natural progression for us to integrate Bahasa Melayu in our system, ensuring our technology resonates deeply with the local drivers,” he said.

While the idea of talking to your car isn’t new, being able to do it in your own language — with natural phrasing — is a big step toward making the experience more inclusive and intuitive. For Malaysian drivers, it also means less thinking and translating in your head, and more just… driving.

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