It works with the company's pre-existing voice assistant IDA.
ChatGPT is now available with many Volkswagen models, including all vehicles in the electric ID family, the new Golf, Tiguan and Passat. This integration is only in Europe, for now, with North America coming soon.
What does this mean exactly? ChatGPT has been integrated into Volkswagen's own voice assistant IDA to complement the service and add more features, sort of like how Apple is handling its own partnership with OpenAI's platform. This means that customers can better communicate with the vehicle using natural language, which allows the assistant to “answer questions about various topics.” IDA could already handle voice-controlled climate adjustments and navigation, but the addition of ChatGPT should make everything run a bit smoother.
Volkswagen also says that the updated voice assistant can provide information on tourist attractions, report on football games and help solve math problems. You know, all of the stuff that regular ChatGPT is used for, only in a car. To that end, Volkswagen touts that drivers won't have to ever take their eyes off the road when using this service.
As for privacy, the company says that a query is only sent to the cloud if IDA can't handle it, just like how Apple Intelligence works. The query is sent anonymously so ChatGPT doesn't get any of your vehicle data. It can also be deactivated entirely via the settings area of the Volkswagen app.
We tried this feature a few months back at CES and came away slightly confused but also intrigued. We found that the system didn't add much to the whole driving experience but could be a great tool for passengers. It told us a cute story about a dinosaur, though struggled with up-to-date queries like basketball scores. In short, it should keep the kids busy during road trips.
ChatGPT integration is heading to the US with 2025 vehicles, with a global release coming shortly after that. It's also available in languages other than English, which is always a nice surprise. The system can handle Spanish, Czech and German.
