Volkswagen announced that its voice assistant, integrating the Chat GPT application, will be able to converse with drivers by mid-year. The company showcased its first cars equipped with this technology at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, with availability for customers in North America and Europe starting early in the second quarter of this year.
Executives from Volkswagen and SiriusXM, the company partnered for this technology, explained that the AI application can recognize various requests, from adjusting the temperature upon hearing “I feel cold” to displaying the nearest Indian restaurant when hearing the phrase “I want butter chicken.”
According to Kai Groner, a board member of Volkswagen for technical development, customers can now adjust functions within their cars without touching any buttons. He emphasized that customers prefer adjusting their car’s functions through voice-controlled systems, especially those with Apple CarPlay or Android Auto, making the process seamless.
Critics argue that the addition of generative AI to cars, while more advanced than current interactions, lags behind expectations from a few years ago, particularly with the development of fully autonomous vehicles. However, automakers like Volkswagen defy this opinion.
Volkswagen claims to be the first commercial car manufacturer to make this technology a standard feature in its small car segment. In contrast, General Motors mentioned in March of last year that they are working on developing a virtual personal assistant using AI models that surpass Chat GPT.
Mercedes-Benz also tested a program last June, allowing around 900,000 cars equipped with the MBUX system to download Chat GPT. This enables users to execute tasks like booking movies or restaurants directly from behind the steering wheel.
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