Jan Rümmer
Jan Rümmer
Head of Market – Transport · Acapela Group (Tobii Dynavox)

Voice technology
for the mobility of tomorrow

I combine market insight, technology, sales and customer needs with one clear goal: to apply modern voice technology where it gives people orientation, information and accessibility in everyday life.

Market strategy Voice technology International mobility
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Fields of application

Voice technology for the mobility of tomorrow

Acapela develops text-to-speech solutions, synthetic voices and custom voice models. My focus: the international transport sector.

Public transport

Announcements, passenger information and service communication in daily operation.

Bus and rail

Reliable announcement systems for local, regional and long-distance services.

Metro & tram

Dense frequencies, complex networks, high demands on intelligibility.

Airports

Multilingual terminal and gate communication in real time.

Navigation & mobility

Voice-guided navigation and mobility apps for end users and fleets.

Passenger information

Dynamically generated information — from the stop to the disruption notice.

Vehicle & system manufacturers

Integrable voice solutions as part of OEM and system architectures.

Digital platforms

Cloud services for transport and logistics with scalable speech output.

Voice technology makes information clear, current and accessible — whether it is a stop announcement, a disruption message, a navigation prompt or dynamically generated passenger information.

How it works

From timetable to announcement

Four steps, usually in less than a second.

01

Data

A timetable, delay or disruption arises in the operator’s system.

02

Text

The data becomes a clear sentence — correctly inflected, in any language.

03

Voice

The TTS engine turns it into audio. In real time, with verified pronunciation.

04

Announcement

The passenger hears it on the platform, on board or in the app.

My role at Acapela

At the intersection of market, customer, product and technology

As Head of Market – Transport I am responsible for the strategic development of the international transport market.

Developing the international market strategy for the transport sector
Managing strategic customers and partners
Building new business opportunities
Guiding complex sales and tender processes
Aligning customers, product management and development
Translating market requirements into concrete product solutions
Leading international projects and teams
Preparing forecasts and management decisions
Representing the transport market to executive leadership and strategic committees
Working with transport operators, technology providers and system integrators
International experience

Projects across borders

Projects and market activities across Europe and North America. My professional environment includes:

BVG Berlin
Transport for London
Siemens
Autoguidovie
Hermes Airports
Trucker Path

For me the focus is not on selling a technology, but on developing long-term, viable solutions.

Acapela in the transport sector

Selected references

Transport operators and infrastructure authorities working with Acapela voices — from a brand's own custom voice to multilingual passenger information.

Deutsche Bahn
GermanyRailCustom voice

Around 5,400 stations and 21 million travellers a day: a unique, recognisable DB voice informs passengers and makes the brand identifiable by sound as well as sight.

Case study
Trafikverket
SwedenRailCustom voice

Around 20,000 announcements a day at Swedish railway stations. Two voices — “Järda” and “Anton” — act as vocal landmarks: female for northbound, male for southbound trains.

Case study
Jernbaneverket
NorwayRailCustom voice

A dedicated announcement voice for Norwegian rail infrastructure, tuned to the pronunciation of local station names.

Further custom voice projects in transport:

British railway company
Scottish railway company
Austrian railway company
Belgian metropolitan transport (FR)
Dutch regional operator
Swedish regional operator
Moroccan railway company (AR / FR)
5,400
stations using the DB custom voice
21 m
travellers hear it every day
20,000
announcements a day at Trafikverket
30+
languages, more than 200 voices

References published by Acapela Group at acapela-group.com/applications-en/transport. Projects not named here are listed anonymously on that page.

Technology with real value

Voice technology is most valuable when it simply works in everyday life

In transport, that means:

Clear, natural announcements

Intelligibility even with background noise and difficult acoustics.

Correct pronunciation

Place and stop names — including special cases and regional forms.

Reliable multilingualism

Consistent quality across languages and markets.

Dynamic real-time information

Content that changes with operations — generated automatically.

Accessible communication

Information that reaches every passenger.

High technical stability

Operational reliability as a baseline, not an add-on.

Cloud and on-premise

Flexible deployment models depending on infrastructure and requirements.

Built to integrate

Technologies that fit into existing system landscapes for the long term.

So I deal not only with commercial questions, but also intensively with product quality, user experience and technical feasibility.

How I work

Analytical, pragmatic, solution-oriented

I try to reduce complex tasks quickly to the decisive questions:

01What does the customer really need?
02What problem are we solving?
03Does the solution make technical and commercial sense?
04How can it scale?
05What are the opportunities and risks?
06What is the next concrete step?

It matters to me to bring different perspectives together and to make decisions not just theoretically sound, but practically workable.

Leadership and collaboration

A translator between market, technology and business

International projects succeed through clear communication and reliable collaboration. I connect:

Sales
Product management
Software development
Linguistics
Voice production
Marketing
Management
Customers and partners
Jan Rümmer at his desk
Kaufbeuren · Germany
About me

Direct communication, independent thinking, ownership

Beyond my professional work I am interested in technology, mobility, entrepreneurial questions and new forms of collaboration.

I live in Kaufbeuren, Germany, am a father of three and am also involved in school and community projects outside of work.

I value direct communication, independent thinking and people who take responsibility.

Based inKaufbeuren, Germany
MarketsEurope & North America
FocusText-to-speech & synthetic voices
RoleHead of Market – Transport
What I stand for

For me, technology is a means, not an end. What interests me is how a technical possibility becomes a working, commercially viable application that genuinely helps people.

Market insight· Technology· Strategy· Communication· Execution
Contact

I'm glad to connect

I'm always happy to talk about:

Voice technology Text-to-speech & synthetic voices Public transport and mobility Passenger information Digital transformation in the transport sector International market strategy Partnerships and business development