Control of heating etc.
ChatGPT now controls the car: VW wants to install the bot in the Golf and Tiguan from spring
Volkswagen relies on ChatGPT for its new models
© VW / PR
ChatGPT has brought AI into the mainstream – and will soon be in cars too. VW was the first manufacturer to introduce the bot as a standard feature for its cars. The AI assistant IDA also controls parts of the car.
Artificial intelligence is currently by far the biggest technology hype – and no AI is as well known as it ChatGPT. The smart text creation bot almost single-handedly brought AI into the public consciousness – and has since been used diligently in countless companies, households and educational institutions. Another application will soon be added that you might not have expected: Volkswagen wants to install ChatGPT in its cars.
The company announced this at the CES technology trade fair in Las Vegas. From the second quarter of 2024, numerous of the manufacturer’s cars will roll off the assembly line with ChatGPT as an assistant. According to VW, the assistant will be included in the ID.7, ID.5, ID.4, ID.3 series and the new Tiguan, Passat and Golf models.
Deep integration
ChatGPT is deeply integrated into the system: The AI chat is built into the backend of the VW voice assistant IDA, so it generates responses from the car when you give it voice commands. According to VW, IDA can control navigation or the infotainment system. General questions, such as about the weather at your destination or about news or other research, are then answered by ChatGPT with voice output.
In fact, the AI also takes over the control of the car hardware – albeit only on a small scale for the time being: According to VW, the voice assistant can also be used to regulate the air conditioning, i.e. it takes over temperature control on demand. However, the software was able to do this without the support of ChatGPT.
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No release of data
The ChatGPT integration is implemented via the third-party program Cerence Chat Pro. This has one main advantage for VW owners: They don’t have to create an account with the ChatGPT operator OpenAI, but can simply use their voice assistant as before. According to VW, ChatGPT support is only used when necessary: all commands that the car can implement on its own are carried out without the additional AI. Only when your own program cannot implement requests is ChatGPT brought in. However, neither personal nor vehicle data will be passed on to OpenAI, the company assures.
But we can certainly imagine more in the future, the two partners explain. “Looking forward, Volkswagen and Cerence will explore collaboration to develop a new large language model (LLM)-based user experience as the basis for Volkswagen’s next generation of in-car assistants,” explains Cerence CEO Stefan Ortmanns in a VW press release. Then the voice assistant would run entirely via chat AI.
Source: VW