VW first brand to bring AI to cars

Collaborates with ChatGPT for ID.7 and Golf GTi

CES hasn’t even officially begun and the pressers are already keeping us on our toes. While we are bringing all the hottest news to you, live from Las Vegas, the first big tech news to kickstart this year's event is a big announcement by one of the biggest car brands in the world - Volkswagen. As the first brand to put a full-baked AI assistant using a Large Language Model (LLM) in partnership with Cerence, the next-gen Golf GTi and the ID.7 electric car will be the first VWs off the block to benefit from this tech. Using ChatGPT as an integral part of this tech suite, the goal is to give it a human companion-like capability of reasoning to help the occupants complete tasks with minimal instructions. It even understands directional cues depending on who in the car is speaking and executes the command accordingly. Like setting the temperature only for the driver or the passenger zones, for example.

During our brief demo, the biggest takeaway was the fast response time and the ability to access ChatGPT on the fly and give results to casual commands like, “I’m not feeling too well”. Instantly, it works in sync with the vehicle navigation system and gives you options to the nearest pharmacy, assuming correctly that you meant to ask for a medical store!

All MQB Evo and MEB platform cars from the VW and Skoda stable will be able to integrate ChatGPT into their systems going forward and includes all other ID models. The assistant can be activated simply by pressing a button on the steering wheel or summoning “hello IDA”. It doesn’t access any vehicle data and even the queries and responses are deleted immediately after use, managing security concerns well. India is slated to get the ID.7 next year for approximately Rs. 70 lacs and this could be the kickstarter for the next-gen of automotive AI assistants.