Volkswagen Planning AI Cars With ChatGPT

Artifical intelligence like ChatGPT is set to change the way we think and work and Volkswagen is hoping that it changes the way people interact with their cars. The German automaker announced at this year’s CES that it plans to integrate ChatGPT into its vehicles with its IDA voice assistant. Volkswagen claims that it’s the “first volume manufacturer” to offer ChatGPT as a standard feature on vehicles.

Similar to current voice assistants in vehicles, IDA allows passengers and the driver to control vehicle functions like navigation, air conditioning, and the infotainment system through commands. Where IDA differs from current voice assistants is with the extent of its capabilities. Thanks to ChatGPT, IDA can answer questions on the vehicle and surrounding areas, have “enriching conversations,” interact in “intuitive language,” and clear up any questions owners may have.



We can see some benefits to utilizing ChatGPT for a car’s voice assistant. Voice assistants in most vehicles only respond to certain phrases. With ChatGPT, Volkswagen’s IDA should be able to respond to more natural requests. VW claims that the voice assistant can be activated by saying “Hello IDA” or by pressing a button on the steering wheel. After that, “IDA automatically prioritizes whether a vehicle function should be executed, a destination searched and the temperature adjusted,” states VW.

Some automotive outlets had a chance to try out IDA at CES and they were impressed with the type of questions the voice assistant understood, the level of information IDA provided, and how quickly it responded to questions. We don’t know what kind of owners would want to have a conversation with their vehicles, but that’s something you would have to test out in real life to see if it’s worth using or not.



For anyone that’s worried about security, Volkswagen claims that ChatGPT does not require users to create an account or install a new application. The smart chatbot doesn’t have access to vehicle data and any questions, along with the answers it provides, are deleted immediately.

IDA with ChatGPT will be available with the Volkswagen’s latest generation of infotainment system that will be found on the ID.7, ID.4, ID.5, ID.3, new Tiguan, new Passat, and new Golf. The system will be introduced in the second quarter of 2024 in Europe and is still under consideration for the U.S. market.

This, of course, is just the beginning for VW’s ChatGPT integration. The system will learn and evolve to become more advanced as more owners use it and as more abilities and commands become available. With modern Volkswagens having over-the-air-software update capability, we’re sure VW and tech partner Cerene will push more updates without lengthy visits to the dealership.

While Volkswagen may be the first automaker to bring ChatGPT to vehicles as a standard feature, Mercedes-Benz was the first automaker to incorporate ChatGPT into its vehicles. Last June, Mercedes created a new Beta program that brought ChatGPT to vehicles with the MBUX infotainment system through Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service. We haven’t heard of any updates from Mercedes since then, so we don’t know what the automaker has in store for its ChatGPT integration.

First Mercedes and now Volkswagen, we’re sure other automakers will find a way to integrate ChatGPT and artificial intelligence into their voice assistants in the near future.