User simulation for the evaluation of bus information systems

In this paper, we describe our contribution to the Spoken Dialog Challenge. We set up a user simulation using the large Let's Go corpus as resource to build our models. Automatic calls were made to all four dialog systems in the SDC, bus information systems that cover the schedule of Pittsburgh, PA. We discuss in detail the architecture and required setup for our system-independent user simulation and report the results and challenges we faced. We also report initial evaluation results.