During CES 2024, the premier electronics trade fair from January 9 to 12 held in Vegas, Volkswagen announced its big adoption of generative AI. They announced the integration of OpenAI’s ChatGPT into their vehicles, scheduled for the second quarter of 2024.
The German automobile manufacturer said they will present the first vehicles in which the artificial-intelligence-based chatbot ChatGPT is integrated into its IDA voice assistant. In future, customers will have seamless access to the constantly growing artificial intelligence database in all Volkswagen models equipped with the IDA voice assistant02 and have researched content read out to them while driving.
The chatbot will be available across VW’s lineup, including in Tiguan, Passat, and Golf as well as the automaker’s ID family of electric vehicles. Further, the feature will come to Europe first and is being considered for customers in the US, though plans have yet to be finalised.
Enabled by Cerence Chat Pro, the integration of ChatGPT into the backend of the Volkswagen voice assistant offers a multitude of new capabilities that go far beyond the previous voice control. For example, the IDA voice assistant can be used to control the infotainment, navigation, and air conditioning, or to answer general knowledge questions. In the future, AI will provide additional information in response to questions that go beyond this as part of its continuously expanding capabilities. This can be helpful on many levels during a car journey: Enriching conversations, clearing up questions, interacting in intuitive language, receiving vehicle-specific information, and much more – purely hands-free.
Since 2022 when it launched ChatGPT, OpenAI has raised massive investments. Recently, it raised between $8 billion and $10 billion from G42. Also, it eyes to secure a separate tender offer led by Thrive Capital early this month, which would allow employees sell their shares at a valuation of $86 billion. Last year, Microsoft invested over $10 billion in OpenAI, giving a boost to the AI chatbot’s popularity.
In the press release, the company informed the user experience remains seamless for the driver, requiring no new account creation, app installation, or ChatGPT activation. The voice assistant, named “Hello IDA,” or activated by pressing the steering wheel button, intuitively assesses requests. Whether executing a vehicle function, searching for a destination, or adjusting the temperature, IDA prioritises tasks. If a request goes beyond the capabilities of the Volkswagen system, it is anonymised and sent to AI, with responses provided by the familiar Volkswagen voice.
They also mentioned, ChatGPT does not gain access to any vehicle data; questions and answers are deleted immediately to ensure the highest possible level of data protection. This is facilitated by Cerence Chat Pro, which leverages a multitude of sources, including ChatGPT, to enable IDA to provide accurate and relevant responses to nearly every query imaginable. The feature also prioritises security and seamless integration with IDA’s myriad capabilities, delivering ease of use for drivers.
“Volkswagen has always democratised technology and made it accessible to the many. This is simply ingrained in our DNA. As a result, we are now the first volume manufacturer to make this innovative technology a standard feature in vehicles from the compact segment upwards. Thanks to the seamless integration of ChatGPT and strong collaboration with our partner, Cerence, we are offering our drivers added value and direct access to the AI-based research tool. This also underlines the innovative strength of our new products,” says Kai Grünitz, Member of the Board of Management Volkswagen Brand for technical Development.
“We are proud to build on our automotive expertise and our long-standing partnership with Volkswagen to offer its customers new innovations that leverage generative AI and large language models – even after they have purchased a vehicle,” says Stefan Ortmanns, CEO of Cerence. “With Cerence Chat Pro, VW is empowered with an automotive-grade ChatGPT integration that offers unmatched flexibility, customisation, and ease of deployment, while prioritising security and usability for drivers. As we look to the future, together Volkswagen and Cerence will explore collaboration to design a new, large-language-model-based (LLM) user experience as the foundation of Volkswagen’s next-generation in-car assistant.”
