Assistants for a car driver — the new developments

3 innovation and digital news in 1 minute. Every Monday. Episode 363

NIO assistant “Nomi” on dashboard

NIO, the Chinese EV manufacturer is well-known for the NIO houses and the swappable batteries. On top, they equip cars with an AI assistant “Nomi”. Nomi “sits” in the middle of the dashboard with an animated smiling face. With capabilities beyond infotainment and navigation functions. Nomi can activate the autonomous driving mode and initiate the battery swap process, including finding and navigating to the nearest battery swap station. Opinion: NIO is a car brand with an innovative approach to many aspects of the car experience. The app is at the centre. The NIO Houses as co-working and event spaces. And in the car, Nomi — we tried it in November 2023 — kind of “sweet and great!” (quote).

Do visit a NIO house in the largest German city centers.

ChatGPT in DS (former Citroën) cars, named “Iris”

Stellantis, the mother company of DS (Peugeot, Fiat, Opel, etc.) announces the integration of ChatGPT into the navigation and entertainment system of its DS premium brand. Based on GPT3.5, without real-time information. The assistant is activated by voice command “OK Iris”. For now, a 6-month test period, limited to 20.000 cars. Opinion: Not just usecases for controlling car features and systems, also for interactions on the road. For example, “Iris, I’m on my way to dinner with friends. Which wine to recommend for a fish dinner?” or “Iris, make up a story to calm down my daughter in the backseat and read it to her”.

Stellantis is the first car maker with LLM live on the road, or any we missed?

Bosch invests and partners with Aleph Alpha

At the beginning of November, German LLM Aleph Alpha raised a $500m Series B funding round — a major step to build a European LLM. Investment co-led by Schwarz Group (Lidl), SAP and Bosch Ventures. Additionally, Bosch also announced collaborating with Aleph Alpha to develop and implement LLM usecases for Bosch’s customers, mainly the car industry. Opinion: Bosch is one of the largest and most important suppliers of automotive components, including displays, electronics and infotainment systems, components where LLM usecases are very obvious. If car makers won’t integrate LLMs, suppliers like Bosch will.

Ahead of a race for the LLM in a car? Suppliers, manufacturers, tech giants?