Volkswagen is planning to add ChatGPT to its cars

Volkswagen will use ChatGPT to enhance its existing IDA in-car voice assistant, enabling more natural conversations between driver and car. The AI chatbot will be able to control vehicle functions, answer questions, and have more intuitive interactions.

What's going on here?

Volkswagen’s gonna start putting ChatGPT in its cars starting middle of 2024.

What does this mean?

VW wants to upgrade its current voice assistant, IDA. Right now IDA's pretty limited, but with ChatGPT it can have more natural conversations with drivers. So you could ask it stuff about your car or get directions just by talking to it casually. VW says it'll delete any data from the chats immediately too.

Still, ChatGPT sometimes makes stuff up when it doesn't know the real answer. So don't fully trust what it tells you! VW's working with a company called Cerence to try and make a solid car version.

Why should I care?

VW's the first company to officially say it's putting ChatGPT in cars. That's cool they're leading the pack. But I wonder if the AI will get confused about different car models and stuff like that.

Remember that Chevy dealer that used ChatGPT as a virtual assistant? People totally trolled it by asking to buy cars for $1 and writing Python for them. These AIs can go off the rails if you try to trick 'em.

But old-school car voice assistants are pretty stale and many other automakers are announcing their tests with generative AI. So, AI like ChatGPT will probably take over soon. VW's just getting a head start.