Cerence Inc. and Volkswagen on Jan. 8 announced a partnership to deliver an automotive-grade ChatGPT integration to Volkswagen drivers. Volkswagen will leverage Cerence’s new, generative AI-powered Cerence Chat Pro to enable drivers and passengers to engage the in-car assistant in fun and conversational chitchat, leveraging a multitude of sources, including ChatGPT, to provide accurate and relevant responses to nearly every query imaginable.
Volkswagen will be the first automaker to roll out the new feature via cloud updates to cars already on the road. Cerence Chat Pro will go live in current MEB and MQB evo models from VW Group brands that use the IDA voice assistant.
Cerence Chat Pro is the fastest and easiest way for automakers to integrate ChatGPT into their in-car assistant platforms with full flexibility, extensive customization and low integration effort.
“With software at the core of the Volkswagen of the future, it’s critical that we quickly deploy meaningful innovation powered by advancements in AI,” said Thomas Ulbrich, member of the Board of Management responsible for new mobility at Volkswagen. “By leveraging Cerence Chat Pro, we are able to bring added value and a fun and engaging experience to our drivers with minimal integration effort and on a short development and deployment timeline, ensuring our customers are benefitting from new AI-powered conversational technology.”
"We’re proud to build on our automotive expertise and our long-term partnership with Volkswagen to continue to bring new innovation to customers, even post-vehicle purchase," said Stefan Ortmanns, CEO of Cerence. “It was impressive to see the agility and speed of the Volkswagen team as our companies collectively sprung into action to bring this project to life, marking our shared commitment to leveraging advancements in AI to enhance the in-car user experience."
Looking toward the future, Volkswagen and Cerence will explore collaboration to design a new, large language model (LLM)-based user experience as the basis of Volkswagen’s next-generation in-car assistant. This unique user experience will combine voice and touch, allowing users to perform tasks across different applications in a single conversational thread for a safer and more joyful driving experience. The system will be built on Cerence’s first-of-its-kind, automotive-grade LLM fine-tuned with the company’s extensive automotive dataset.
