Mercedes-Benz, Microsoft to test ChatGPT in vehicles

mercedes benz and Microsoft The two companies announced Thursday that they are partnering to test in-vehicle ChatGPT artificial intelligence, which can be used in more than 900,000 vehicles in the United States.

The luxury automaker said the emerging technology will be used for audio requests through its “Hey Mercedes” voice assistant, which is expected to greatly expand the system’s capabilities.

An optional testing program for U.S. customers will begin on Friday, Mercedes said. Customers can sign up through the company’s app, called Mercedes me, or use a voice command “Hey Mercedes, I’d like to join the beta program” directly in the vehicle.

“While most voice assistants are limited to predefined tasks and responses, ChatGPT leverages large language models to greatly improve natural language understanding and expand the topics it can respond to,” says the automaker said in a press release.

Like other industries, the potential application of ChatGPT in the automotive industry has been a growing topic of discussion.while some, such as General Motorssaying their self-driving cars already use advanced artificial intelligence, or machine learning, and the Mercedes partnership marks one of the first specific use cases for ChatGPT.

GM said earlier this year that it was exploring the use cases of ChatGPT in its vehicles as part of a broader collaboration with OpenAI investor Microsoft, which created the technology.

Eric Boyd, Microsoft’s corporate vice president of AI platforms, said the new integration will add voice commands and interactions; task capabilities; and allow for follow-up questions, among other questions.

“Unlike standard voice assistants, which often require specific commands, ChatGPT excels at handling follow-up questions and maintaining contextual understanding. Drivers can ask complex questions or engage in multiple rounds of conversation, receiving detailed and relevant responses from the voice assistant,” Boyd said. wrote in a blog post.

Based on the results of the three-month test program and customer feedback, Mercedes-Benz will consider further integration of the technology, the companies said.