Did you know it too, it was only a matter of time: automakers from all over the world had already set their sights on Chat GPT, the advanced AI language model, to revolutionize their voice assistants. That moment is (already) activated: Mercedes-Benz will be the first to cross the finish line.
Hey, Mercedes
The announcement has arrived: the Stuttgart company has started beta tests of its MBUX infotainment system, with integrated ChatGPT. General Motors left in the dust, even though it had immediately seized the opportunity (in March) but was evidently not equipped to start off straight away, which Mercedes did instead.
And so from June 16, 2023, the beta system was distributed to US customers who joined the testing program. There are quite a few: more than 900.000 Mercedes cars are equipped with the MBUX system. For those who have a compatible car, participating in the program was very simple: for owners it was enough to say “Hey Mercedes, I want to join the beta program”. After joining, the car receives a software update with the version of the assistant "enhanced" with ChatGPT.
What can the new Mercedes assistant do?
With this new upgrade, the “Hey Mercedes” system will be able to do much more than respond to predefined commands such as “Turn on the air conditioning” or “Search for a radio station”.
MBUX will be able to understand commands that it simply would not have understood before. You will be able to "converse" with the assistant in a more natural way, without worrying about pronouncing the words well: the system will understand requests and commands by interpreting the context, in a way closer to that of a human being.
Two inevitable reflections
First and foremost: how will user privacy be managed? Mercedes ensures full control. The data collected, they say in Germany, will not end up in the hands of Microsoft: it will be sent to a proprietary Cloud, where it will be anonymised, analyzed and archived.
“Our goal is to make our cars the center of our customers' digital lives, while offering the best possible protection for their privacy,” said Mercedes-Benz Chief Technology Officer, Markus Schaefer.
Imagine.
What prevents Mercedes, once this data has been "anonymized, analyzed and archived", from making it available to Microsoft and OpenAI to perfect the system (and ChatGPT)?
This brings us to the second reflection: this is not just a test bed for Mercedes. From the tens of millions of voice interactions of car occupants (also cross-referenced with data on the use of tools), Microsoft will probably derive the "kernel" of ChatGPT which will integrate multimedia help systems, PCs and (perhaps) a Alexa' branded Windows and luckier than the Amazon one.
The tests will last approximately three months, followed (if all goes well) by large-scale ChatGPT integration. What do you think? KITT from “Supercar” or HAL9000 from “A Space Odyssey”?
