FREE411 Now Has Voice-Activated Driving Directions

Jingle Networks got a bit of funding last month, which amounted to a healthy dose of $13.5 million. Now, a few weeks later, Jingle is rolling out the first major release since the funding. Voice-activated driving directions help you get to your location without having to key in your query via SMS. The directions you get in return, however, will come in SMS format, which still marginally frees up your hands in the event that you’re driving (or walking in really cold, Chicago weather).

The whole process is rather similar to the voice-activated direction feature that Ask.com rolled out a few weeks ago, and that’s because they both look to be powered by the same service, called Dial Directions. In such case, Jingle will need to deploy other tactics to make its service stand out. So while Ask.com began as a search tool and has quickly expanded to its portal status, Jingle Networks is already recognized as a phone-accessible directory assistance service. In that regard, Jingle may have a leg up on its competitors.

As we’ve seen from search and mobile tools across the board, layering in more and more options for enhanced search and additional features are ways in which these services are looking to have value-added peripherals that build on the core offering. To that end, I wouldn’t be surprised if a service like Jingle partners with a search tool like ChaCha, which is steadily ramping up its mobile offering, of if Jingle were to move even deeper into the search arena on its own.