MILLIONS of car owners will soon be able to have conversations with their vehicle, through Google’s new artificial intelligence (AI) assistant.
Gemini, as the assistant is called, is soon being injected into Android Auto – the infotainment system built into over 250million cars.
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“The future of driving is getting a whole lot smarter with Gemini, your AI assistant from Google, coming to your car soon,” Google wrote in a new blog post on its website.
It means drivers will be able to use natural spoken language to ask Gemini to fulfil requests, such as sending a message to a friend, finding an on-route restaurant and even sorting through emails.
Drivers won’t have to remember specific phrases, or press any on-screen buttons, to pull up apps or find new stops on their journey.
“Sending messages to a friend who prefers another language? You can tell Gemini to remember to always send messages to Joe in Spanish,” explained Google.
“Then later, when you message Joe, rather than just transcribing verbatim what you say, Gemini can help craft the perfect message for you.
“You can edit that message without having to start over and then even have it translated in over 40 languages.”
Android Auto has traditionally allowed Android phone owners to beam their phone displays to their vehicle’s infotainment system.
But the latest update, according to Google, means your Android phone won’t be necessary.
A new Live tool can even keep you company on long drives.
“Live is a conversational experience with Gemini that is a perfect fit in the car,” added Google.
“Just say “Hey Google, let’s talk” to brainstorm, explore and learn something new with Gemini.”
For example, if you have an important meeting coming up, Google reckons Gemini can help you prepare.
You could say something like: “I need to have a conversation with my boss about a new promotion. How do I go about this?”
And Gemini will give you a detailed answer.
You can even refine your strategy with something like, “When is the best time of day to have this conversation?”
What is Google Gemini?
You may have heard of Google’s Gemini AI tool – so what exactly is it?
Google’s Gemini AI launched in December 2023 and is available online, billed as a way to “supercharge your creativity and productivity”.
Gemini is a multimodal model that learns from a variety of data types including images, text, and audio.
When a user enters a prompt into Gemini, it generates a response using information it already knows or pulls from other sources (often Google services).
While training on datasets, it identifies patterns that help it mimic a human response. As it is continuously learning, Gemini also learns from your prompts, responses, and feedback.
Google has admitted that “Gemini will make mistakes and might even say something offensive”.
The program occasionally cites its sources. If it quotes at length from a webpage, for instance, it makes reference to that page. Sometimes, it generates a URL that users can click.
Gemini has usage limits to reduce traffic, meaning it may cap the number of prompts and conversations a user can have within a specific timeframe.
This number depends on factors like how long and complex a user’s prompts are and the length of the conversation with Gemini. Google will alert you when you are close to hitting the limit for a given period.
Google says it has worked with over a dozen car brands to launch the tool.
Across the more than 250million cars that support Android Auto, there are over 50 different car models involved, according to Google.
Gemini will be available on cars that support Android Auto in the coming months, and cars with Google built-in later this year, including the new Lincoln Nautilus, Renault R5 and Honda Passport.
The tech giant is also bolstering its app catalogue to include more games and video platforms.
The new features are set to be demonstrated at the annual Google I/O event next week.
But drivers are still unsure about AI, which appears to be appearing in more and more devices – from TVs to automobiles.
“Man I hate this AI sh*t so much,” one person wrote in a Reddit post.
Another added: “It could be good for things like opening up apps or asking questions while on the go but I feel like it could do more harm than good.
“Although one benefit could be a locally running Gemini model which can give you information even when offline. That would be truly useful when like camping for example.”
A third person said: “The only thing I use Google’s Assistant for is playing music, and last I checked Gemini would just show Google results for whatever I wanted to listen to.
“Fingers crossed they manage to fix that before it’s forced… Maybe if I’m lucky it’ll only take twice as long as assistant to start.”
Others say it’s much better than Apple’s alternative assistant, Siri, which is yet to receive an AI boost.
“Not sure I understand the negativity in this thread,” an iPhone owner wrote in the thread.
“Siri drives me up a wall. Being able to converse with something that will do stuff properly without interacting with a screen (eg text someone without doing a word and punctuation perfect dictation, or find a gas stop in X minutes on a road trip) seems like a huge value add.”
Another Apple fan wrote: “What’s with all the negativity? I use Apple CarPlay, and Siri is a huge help.
“You can text, call, and play music without losing your focus on the road. It’s a huge plus.”
