The carmaker says it’s the first volume manufacturer to integrate ChatGPT, designed to converse with drivers in a back-and-forth dialogue. VW vehicles equipped with the technology will be able to have researched content read aloud and adjust navigation and infotainment functions, the company said on Monday as it presented the new feature at the CES electronics trade fair in Las Vegas.
The system is built into Volkswagen’s existing voice assistant IDA and will work in the ID.7, ID.4, ID.5, Tiguan models, and the Golf GTI and Passat. The company said it will be available for customers in North America and Europe early in the second quarter of this year.
IDA can already answer simple questions, such as how to set the climate control or change a destination on the car’s navigation system, and respond in Volkswagen-specific voices. If it’s unable to answer a query, however, the request is anonymously passed on to ChatGPT (an OpenAI-owned entity), which can offer a response. Users don’t need to create an account or install a new app toto use the service; VW says it will not access any vehicle data. Questions and answers are deleted immediately to help ensure data privacy, the company adds.
If the feature proves popular, it could become essential to a Volkswagen vehicle owner’s experience behind the wheel. The carmaker’s research has suggested that around 40% of its drivers say they would like to have researched content from the internet read out loud to them while driving. ChatGPT could enable such a feature, but the tech has its faults.
TechCrunch has tried out the feature in a VW car and found that even basic requests can trip even the chatbot. For example, asking the chatbot to find a nearby quilt shop was too complicated to understand. Its ability to understand natural language could have been more consistent, and it struggled with long sentences, while the voice itself was a bit robotic and uninvolved.
Despite its failings, Volkswagen is relying on ChatGPT to boost the capabilities of its existing voice assistant. The company tasked Cerence — the tech firm that emerged from the now-Microsoft-owned Nuance — to incorporate the chatbot into its IDA voice assistant, which is bundled with the VW’s latest ID.7, ID.4, ID.5 all-electric rides, as well as the Tiguan, Golf, and Passat models.
The IDA voice assistant will also be able to answer general questions and give information about the car’s features, such as fuel efficiency or its speed. The company plans to expand the feature’s capabilities, letting it answer more questions and provide “vehicle-specific information.” It will also be able to make recommendations based on past driving behavior. The IDA upgrade will be offered for free to current owners of Volkswagen cars equipped with the software.
