Mercedes-Benz to add ChatGPT to its cars

Luxury car owners in the United States are about to experience an exciting addition to their already extravagant vehicles. Mercedes-Benz has announced the integration of OpenAI's advanced conversational AI agent, ChatGPT, into its MBUX infotainment system. Starting from tomorrow, June 16, U.S. owners of MBUX-enabled models will have the opportunity to participate in a beta program, unlocking the remarkable capabilities of ChatGPT simply by saying, "Hey Mercedes, I want to join the beta program."

Now, you might be wondering, what exactly would you need an AI-powered conversational agent for in your car? After all, a car is a space primarily meant for driving, navigating, and controlling media and essential functions. However, as technology continues to evolve, voice interfaces have emerged as a convenient and safe option, allowing drivers to keep their attention focused on the road.

While a car's requirements may seem limited, ChatGPT brings a whole new level of versatility and human-like interaction to the driving experience. It excels in engaging in meaningful back-and-forths on any topic and has the remarkable ability to generate new information seamlessly. From summarizing existing content to assisting with coding or even helping you craft wedding vows, ChatGPT is a true conversational companion. But the question remains, are these features something you would find useful while driving, or even while sitting in the passenger seat?

Mercedes describes the capabilities of ChatGPT as follows:

"Users will experience a voice assistant that not only accepts natural voice commands but can also conduct conversations. Soon, participants who ask the Voice Assistant for details about their destination, to suggest a new dinner recipe, or to answer a complex question, will receive a more comprehensive answer – while keeping their hands on the wheel and eyes on the road." Indeed, a complex query like, "What's a good independent sandwich shop on my route that's within half a mile of a gas station?" might prove challenging for a traditional voice interface. In situations where you don't have a passenger to help you with such queries, having the ability to rely on ChatGPT can be truly beneficial. However, one might question whether asking for a dinner recipe while on the road is the most practical use case that Mercedes could have come up with.

As always, the true benefits of this technology may not be immediately apparent, and it's unlikely that drivers specifically requested this capability. It's possible that Mercedes simply decided to offload its voice interface service to a trusted third party like ChatGPT in Microsoft AI, as prominently displayed in MBUX and the Mercedes Me app. But the question of who plays what role in the partnership remains. Also, data collection is an issue. Voice command data is kept.

By collecting this valuable data during the beta program, Mercedes-Benz developers gain valuable insights into specific user requests. This allows them to establish precise priorities for the further enhancement of voice control. Additionally, the findings from this beta program will be instrumental in refining the intuitive voice assistant and shaping the rollout strategy for large language models in various markets and languages.

Mercedes-Benz is now revolutionizing the in-car experience by integrating ChatGPT, an advanced conversational AI agent, into its MBUX infotainment system.