Artificial intelligence (AI) may one day transform voice interaction in cars and car makers are jumping on the bandwagon.
BMW and Volkswagen announced ChatGPT demonstrations or rollouts just prior to CES.
Volkswagen claimed it will be “the first volume manufacturer that will offer ChatGPT as a standard feature from the second quarter of 2024 in many production vehicles. The feature is being considered for the United States.” So, in Europe, the feature will allow users to control infotainment, navigation and climate functions as well as answer general knowledge questions. ”
VW said AI will provide more capability in the future including “Enriching conversations, clearing up questions, interacting in intuitive language, receiving vehicle-specific information, and much more—purely hands-free.”
VW is offering ChatGPT in partnership with voice recognition company Cerence that offers “Chat Pro.” It will be found on the VW 1D3, ID4, ID5, ID7, Tiguan, Passat and Golf.
BMW is teaming with Alexa’s version of ChatGPT for a potential roll out of new voice control capabilities, announced the car maker. It is demonstrating the system that “provides quick instructions and answers about vehicle functions in a much more human, conversational manner, while at the same time being able to control some vehicle functions.”
Automotive News said the new BMW/Alexa system could roll out in some models this year in vehicles with BMW Operating System 9.
Other car makers are already offering trials of ChatGPT. Mercedes offers ChatGPT in over 900,000 vehicles in a test program.
Stellantis included it in its European luxury brand—DS Automobiles—as a free service for the first 20,000 uses since October 19, 2023.
General Motors told Reuters in March that ChatGPT “is going to be in everything.” ChatGPT could be used to instantly gain access to info typically found in the owners manual. Or it can program the garage door code or integrate info from one’s calendar, said GM VP Scott Miller. (GM as well as Ford and Stellantis are not attending CES this year).
Also, just prior to CES, Tom Tom announced that it teamed with Microsoft to offer an AI voice powered assistant for vehicles.
Analyst Roger Lanctot, Director, Automotive Connected Mobility at TechInsights, however, advises some caution regarding ChatGPT in cars. Full on ChatGPT presently is costly to implement and it might cause distraction, especially while the technology still has the potential to “hallucinate,” (lapse into nonsense). He added, “No one’s saying they want a car with ChatGPT.”
That said, voice interaction is still key in car infotainment. “There are going to be so many layers of content in the car that you need an interface to cut through the complexity, but I think the next stage, which hasn’t been widely implemented yet, is NLU,” Lanctot continued.
NLU, Natural Language Understanding, is a form of language processing that is already available on high end cars today. While LLM –ChatGPT is a form of LLM or Large Language Model– is an AI algorithm that is trained on vast amounts of data to deliver relevant natural language responses.
“NLU requires less processing, and can be found on high end cars today, allowing conversational control of navigation and other car functions. Drivers can ask the car’s system “What’s the weather today?” or “Take me to the nearest Dunkin Donuts,” Lanctot said.
Car makers may also use “lite” versions of ChatGPT that are less costly to implement.
Photo: VW Concept Golf GTI interior
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