Earlier this week, Volkswagen introduced plans to enhance its in-car voice assistant IDA with ChatGPT. I will admit that I initially did not fairly perceive the purpose, however I received an opportunity right here at CES 2024 in Las Vegas to listen to concerning the imaginative and prescient for this integration from Cerence, the corporate that already powers the back-end of VW’s voice assistant. As common, it is a bit of a tough demo, as a result of it is laborious to precisely see how ChatGPT will assist you out while you’re on the street while you’re as an alternative sitting in a stationary automotive within a conference heart.
However conceptually, the thought behind bringing ChatGPT right into a automotive is all about avoiding a “dead end” while you as IDA one thing, Cerence advised us. Drivers needn’t do something totally different — you simply say “Hello IDA” or press the voice assistant button on the motive force’s wheel and begin speaking. And if there’s one thing that IDA would not know, it will test with ChatGPT. When the voice assistant hits ChatGPT, you may solely know as a result of the response says “According to ChatGPT” originally of it.
I wasn’t in a position to get an excellent sense but of what issues ChatGPT is sweet for. One of many demos we noticed concerned asking the automotive to inform us a narrative about dinosaurs, as a theoretical method to entertain youngsters within the again seat. ChatGPT rapidly got here again and began spinning a cute yarn — a great proof of idea however in all probability not one thing you may must do within the automotive lots. I requested the automotive to inform me about Sphere, the huge new live performance / leisure venue in Las Vegas, and it began responding with particulars about it “opening soon.” That is as a result of the model of ChatGPT within the automotive did not have absolutely the newest particulars about it. I used to be anticipating extra of a Google-like expertise, the place I might ask issues like “who won the Celtics game last night?” however that is not likely what ChatGPT is for.
Given how succesful the IDA voice assistant already appears to be, I am not but certain how a lot ChatGPT will add to the equation. However, the same old caveats apply — this was only a fast demo, not on the street, and it is not totally prepared for launch but. However VW is just not alone in seeing advantages for including LLMs to its automobiles. BMW is working with Amazon to convey AI-powered automobile data to its automobiles, and Mercedes-Benz began testing a ChatGPT integration final yr. I wager we’ll hear extra about this from different producers within the yr forward.
We’re reporting dwell from CES 2024 in Las Vegas from January 6-12. Sustain with all the most recent information from the present right here.