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Talking cars? Mercedes-Benz and Microsoft bring ChatGPT to the following models

Amritpal Kaur Sandhu-Longoria   Paste BN

Want to have a conversation with your Mercedes-Benz?

Now you can with ChatGPT via the vehicle's "Hey Mercedes" voice assistant. Partnering with Microsoft's Azure Open AI Service to provide customers with advanced language artificial intelligence services, Mercedes will offer drivers more interactive conversations with their vehicles.

Drivers opt in to a beta program by using the vehicle's Mercedes me app and saying, “Hey Mercedes, I want to join the beta program.”

The programs started Friday and will last three months, giving developers "helpful insights into specific requests, enabling them to set precise priorities in the further development of voice control," according to a Mercedes-Benz press release.

The beta program is available in more than 900,000 Mercedes-Benz vehicles.

What are the features included?

In a blog post from Eric Boyd, corporate vice president of the AI Platform at Microsoft, he highlighted the vehicle's new capabilities:

  • Interactive voice conversations with ChatGPT that also understands voice commands.
  • Enhanced and comprehensive responses while keeping your hands on the wheel. Drivers can ask complex questions or get more information about a destination or a recipe.
  • Drivers can get detailed responses with contextual follow-up questions.
  • Mercedes-Benz is also exploring how to integrate ChatGPT's third-party services which may allow drivers to accomplish tasks like booking a seat at a restaurant or getting movie tickets.

What does this mean for my data privacy?

Mercedes-Benz will retain complete control over the information technology processes in the background, while Mercedes-Benz Intelligent Cloud will collect and retain voice command data which will be anonymized and analyzed.

According to Mercedes-Benz USA's Privacy Policy for the Mercedes me app, the company tracks the following for vehicles made after 2019:

  • How you drive your vehicle which includes how you speed, accelerate, brake, use the seat belt and how long your trips take.
  • Precise location of your vehicle.
  • Account information like name, address, payment information, email address, telephone number, and date of birth.
  • Vehicle data that is generated by the software and sensors in the car, like diagnostic codes, mileage, fuel, tire pressure, battery data, door and window status, climate control settings and more.
  • Service-related information such as routes, charging station information, calendar entries, contact numbers traffic and hazard information. They may also collect information from your address book, calendar, tasks, and email depending on whether you authorize the collection.

Which Mercedes vehicles can use ChatGPT?

The optional beta program is available in vehicles equipped with the MBUX infotainment system of the following series:

  • A 238
  • C 118
  • C 167
  • C 238
  • C 253
  • C 254
  • C 257
  • H 247
  • N 293
  • R 232
  • S 213
  • V 167
  • V 177
  • V 295
  • V 297
  • W 206
  • W 213
  • WV 223
  • X 167
  • X 243
  • X 247
  • X 253
  • X 254
  • X 294
  • X 296
  • Z 223
  • Z 296
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