Mercedes-Benz has rolled out an update to its MBUX Voice Assistant, introducing an AI-driven knowledge capability.

Customers can now engage in natural language conversations with their vehicles, receiving real-time responses to general knowledge inquiries.

Initially, the feature supports German, British English, and American English, and can be activated by saying 'Hey Mercedes' or pressing a button on the steering wheel.

This new feature leverages Microsoft’s ChatGPT technology through the Azure OpenAI Service and incorporates Bing search functionalities.

The assistant is designed to handle context-aware follow-up questions, enabling seamless dialogues; for example, users can ask about Grammy awards and then inquire about the first award without needing to restate the context.

Markus Schäfer, Chief Technology Officer of Mercedes-Benz, highlighted that this update enhances customer engagement with vehicles in an entertaining way.

To ensure data privacy, Mercedes-Benz anonymizes all voice data and processes it within the secure Mercedes-Benz Intelligent Cloud, while also employing a risk assessment tool to reduce harmful responses.

This update is available starting December 19, 2024, for over three million vehicles equipped with the MBUX system.