Google and Volkswagen Collaborate on Smartphone AI Assistant, According to Reuters

By Kenrick Cai

SAN FRANCISCO – Google, under Alphabet, is enhancing its position in the enterprise AI market by integrating essential features for Volkswagen drivers into a smartphone app. This initiative is part of Google’s broader strategy to attract business by providing tools for creating enterprise AI applications.

Users of Volkswagen’s app can ask the in-built assistant queries like, “How do I change a flat tire?” or utilize their phone cameras to scan vehicle dashboards for pertinent information.

The AI assistant leverages Google’s Gemini large language models, which are capable of comprehending and generating human language responses, alongside robust cloud computing resources.

To develop the Volkswagen tool, data sources such as Volkswagen owner’s manuals and YouTube videos on vehicle maintenance were incorporated into the Gemini system.

Thomas Kurian, CEO of Google Cloud, noted the complexity of developing this product, particularly in achieving multimodality, which involves processing various data types including text, images, and videos. He remarked on the misconception that the tool simply converts speech to text to search through a manual.

This AI assistant is free and currently accessible to approximately 120,000 owners of the Atlas and Atlas Cross Sport models. It is expected to be available for other vehicles from the 2020 model year onward by early next year.

The rise of generative AI in corporate settings has the potential to reshape the lucrative cloud computing landscape, where Google currently ranks third in market share, following Amazon and Microsoft. Many companies are still exploring practical applications for this technology.

Cloud computing has become a significant revenue stream for Google, contributing $33 billion to the company’s overall revenue of $307 billion in 2023.

AI solutions have reportedly generated billions in revenue this year for the company, although specific figures have not been disclosed.

Volkswagen has not provided details on the current usage statistics for its AI assistant.