Microsoft and TomTom have announced their partnership to develop perhaps the most advanced AI assistant for cars. They call it a “fully integrated, AI-powered conversational automotive assistant”. This means you can do pretty much everything using the voice assistant.
Since it’s a true AI assistant, it understands context and can complete all kinds of tasks – opening windows, controlling the AC, turning down the volume as well as more complex tasks such as choosing a different route on the fly with suggestions for stops along the way. The aim is to provide an absolute hands-free experience for the driver so they can focus on driving.
TomTom is usually known for its GPS navigation systems, so its partnership with Microsoft is a huge deal. TomTom’s infotainment system makes use of OpenAI’s large language models, Microsoft’s Azure Cosmos DB for multi-model database and Azure Cognitive Services that allows the system to tap into AI-related APIs.
The best part is that TomTom plans to partner with automotive brands across the globe and it will retain the ownership of the branding. This means that TomTom’s infotainment system will likely appear in numerous car brands in the near future.
A couple of months ago, DS Automobiles announced a similar AI assistant for its vehicles, which integrates ChatGPT , so we are clearly heading into the AI automotive feature.
