ChatGPT has been making waves through the world and it was only a matter of time until it found its way to cars.
Volkswagen announced its cars will soon offer voice conversations with ChatGPT at the world’s biggest technology event, the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
While ChatGPT gained notoriety for giving alternative facts, its continual improvements have made it great for giving quick answers, like a search engine you can chat with.
For upcoming Volkswagen cars, ChatGPT will be integrated through the brand’s IDA voice assistant through the Chat Pro system provided by their partner company, Cerence.
Volkswagen says that ChatGPT will be “Enriching conversations, clearing up questions, interacting in intuitive language, receiving vehicle-specific information, and much more – purely hands-free”.
The German carmaker hasn’t divulged the full scope of the ChatGPT-enhanced IDA’s abilities apart from its core conversational features.
“The voice assistant is activated by saying “Hello IDA” or pressing the button on the steering wheel. IDA automatically prioritises whether a vehicle function should be executed, a destination searched or the temperature adjusted. If the request cannot be answered by the Volkswagen system, it is forwarded anonymously to AI and the familiar Volkswagen voice responds.”
It’s suggested that ChatGPT will assist the in-built voice-control system if the driver’s spoken request falls outside of the parameters that have been programmed by Volkswagen.
Regarding security, Volkswagen stressed that the ChatGPT part of the voice assistant can’t access car or user data to ensure “the highest possible level of data protection”.
The enhanced IDA system with ChatGPT will feature in a host of new models coming to Australia including the new Tiguan, new Passat and the updated Golf along with the ID.3 electric hatch, ID.4 electric SUV, and the bigger ID.5 electric SUV.
At the same event, Mercedes-Benz confirmed testing utilising ChatGPT but was shy of announcing a rollout strategy. Korean car maker Kia revealed that it will launch a new AI chatbot with the upcoming EV3 electric SUV.
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