Mercedes-Benz wants to power its in-car voice assistant with ChatGPT. Generative AI is slowly making its way everywhere, from the iPhone to books on the Kindle store, and for the next three months, it’ll conversate with Mercedes owners while they drive.
This week Mercedes announced that select owners of its luxury vehicles in the United States would have access to a ChatGPT-powered voice assistant test program starting June 16. Then, in partnership with Microsoft, the two will test how it works over the next three months.
The automaker already lets owners ask its voice assistant to turn on heated seats, get directions, and do other tasks. Now it’ll reportedly deliver more natural-sounding responses and be more helpful than ever thanks to Microsoft’s Azure OpenAI Service and the natural-language model.
In a press release, the company confirmed that the ChatGPT-powered voice assistant would answer to a “Hey Mercedes” command and be able to hold and carry a conversation rather than only answer specific questions.
More importantly, future plug-ins could enable ChatGPT to schedule dinner reservations, find dinner recipes, and do other things while you casually drive home.
For now, around 900,000 vehicles could be supported, and if things go well, Mercedes will consider expanding the rollout in support and length. One day we’ll all feel like Iron Man talking to J.A.R.V.I.S. like Tony Stark, or better yet, Knight Rider.
via Engadget
