OPINION: I’m all for AI in cars – I just wish it was used for less stupid reasons

Artificial intelligence hasn’t quite reached the scary heights of a Terminator movie just yet, and in many ways it can be really useful. Here on the Carwow web desk we use it to translate press releases, to help generate html for our articles and even to help you out through the MatGPT virtual assistant.

And more and more, we find ourselves using it when we test cars – because it comes baked-in to vehicle infotainment systems. The Volkswagen Group – encompassing VW, Audi and Skoda so far – has ChatGPT enabled through its voice assistant. So do various Stellantis vehicles from Peugeot, Citroen, Vauxhall and DS. Mercedes has experimented with it too – and you can bet that cars running the Google-based Android Automotive won’t be far off getting Google’s own Gemini assistant built-in either.

So should you panic? Is your car about to take on a mind of its own and steer you into the central reservation just because you once insulted a supermarket self-checkout? Well, no. AI isn’t capable of that – and so far, I’m not convinced that in a car, it’s capable of anything useful at all.

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What can AI do in cars?

The simple answer is, not much. No manufacturer has totally replaced their own voice assistants with ChatGPT or another LLM (Large Language Model) – instead, when you ask a query, it can in some specific scenarios hand that question off to the AI.

Suggested uses for the tech are to have ChatGPT tell your sleepy child a story as you drive along. Or perhaps learn fun facts about the town you’re driving through. I mean, it doesn’t actually know what town you’re in, but the car does and it’s wild that the manufacturers haven’t joined those dots.

It can explain warning lights on your dash, though you’ll have to tell it what they are. The fact is that ChatGPT integration doesn’t yet go any deeper than the speakers and the microphone.

Perhaps the most ludicrous use that’s been suggested to me – in total seriousness – is using ChatGPT to ask for recipes. While driving. Cause I’m definitely positioned just right to take notes on a new recipe for butter chicken while cruising down the M40, aren’t I?

AI could do so much more

I don’t mean AI should take over things like setting the cruise control or monitoring the driver’s concentration. But it’s mad to me that no car manufacturer has yet decided to use AI as a replacement for the awkward, stilted voice assistants that currently exist.

The big draw of talking to AI is that you can have a natural-sounding conversation with it. You wouldn’t need to know the precise trigger words that were programmed, because as long as you say what you mean, it should be able to figure it out.

I often think about this when I’m using Android Auto’s voice assistant to choose songs on Spotify while I’m driving. Google’s voice assistant is one of the best out there, but even it can be incredibly frustrating. Asking for Boney M’s ‘Rasputin’ frequently gets me a club remix of that song – and the most annoying part is that no matter how you reword it, you’re liable to get the same result.

If ChatGPT was integrated, I’d be able to say ‘Play Rasputin – not the club remix’ and it would be able to figure out what I meant.

Or think what it could do to navigation – especially in the days of electric cars. EV route planners can be a real awkward mess, but how good would it be to just get in and say ‘Hey Volkswagen, please navigate me to Manchester, avoiding the roadworks on the M6 – and I want to stop halfway at a decent service station with fast chargers.’ In an instant you’d get a route taking you via the Gridserve chargers at Rugby for a pleasant top-up.

What about integrating it deeper into some of the car’s incidental systems? I wouldn’t mind a car that’s able to respond when I ask it what that annoying warning beep is referring to. Or what about one that realises that if you’re driving along a tree-lined street at 2pm, it’s more likely that you’ve parked under a shadow than the sun’s suddenly gone out – and there’s no reason to turn on the automatic headlights.

Are there risks?

Obviously. Engaging in conversation with an unseen entity while you’re driving – especially one that demands fairly snappy responses – can take away your concentration. ChatGPT can also be known to give false or misleading information, so it would need thorough vetting and to work with existing systems rather than replace them entirely. AI requires a strong internet connection, and there’s of course the environmental aspect, too.

In an era where cars are being pressured to get greener and more eco-friendly, it might seem a bit odd that systems are being integrated which emit about 25x more carbon than a Google search with every interaction. Somewhat negates the purpose of ditching your old diesel, right?

Do we need AI in cars?

No, not really – and I’m not just saying that because I’m a luddite and I prefer my cars almost entirely tech-free (even though I am). But the systems are here, and there are going to be more and more in the coming years – and if we’re to have AI forced upon us, I think it should at least be useful.

Or at least, more useful than finding out the history of Norwich cathedral or picking up a new twist on chocolate-chip cookies on your drive home.

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