Remember when cars were just. . . cars? You turned a key, explosions happened under the hood, and wheels turned. It was simple. It was glorious.
Well, kiss those days goodbye. The automotive industry is currently obsessed with turning cars into what they call “software-defined vehicles.” That’s corporate-speak for “a very expensive computer that you sit inside of.”
We aren’t just talking about a slightly slicker touchscreen for your Spotify playlist. This involves massive onboard processors and cloud connectivity that will fundamentally change how your car operates.
Is it terrifying? A little bit, especially if you work in cybersecurity and obsess about the possibility of things going awry. Is it cool? Yes, actually.
Here’s a look at the AI features that you’ll soon find standard.
Smarter, more proactive voice assistants
Let’s be real: Current in-car voice recognition is trash. You shout a command, wait five seconds, and then the car dials your ex-girlfriend instead of turning down the heat.
Thanks to the explosion of generative AI, automaker dashboards are getting a brain transplant. According to IBM, Mercedes-Benz has already integrated ChatGPT into more than 900,000 vehicles as part of a beta program to offer advanced, personalized voice interactions.
