General Motors is leaning in to its collaboration with Alphabet-owned Google as the automaker looks to expand the use of artificial intelligence throughout its business, announcing this week the companies are now working together on future uses for advanced generative AI.
The two major companies have worked closely together for years. In 2019, GM rolled out its first vehicles with Google built-in, which allow drivers access to Google Assistant, Google Maps and Google Play from the center display.
Then last year, GM began using Google Cloud’s conversational AI technology, Dialoglow, to power its OnStar Interactive Virtual Assistant (IVA) in vehicles, which provides drivers with responses to common questions along with routing and navigation assistance.
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GM said the addition of Dialoglow has improved OnStar’s ability to understand customers and to respond with a more natural-sounding voice. The company said in a press release that OnStar IVA not only assists with non-emergency inquiries, “but also endeavors to distinguish phrases and words that may signify an emergency situation and help to quickly route the call to OnStar’s specially trained emergency Advisors.”
The virtual assistant currently fields more than one million inquiries a month in the U.S. and Canada. Now, GM says it is ready to explore other possible uses for Google’s generative AI capabilities.
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GM is looking to use Dialogflow to handle customer’s questions about vehicles and product features, and has already deployed chatbots using the technology across its corporate website and each of its vehicle brand websites.
“Generative AI has the potential to revolutionize the buying, ownership, and interaction experience inside the vehicle and beyond, enabling more opportunities to deliver new features and services,” said Mike Abbott, GM’s executive vice president of software and services said in a statement. “The work with Google Cloud is another example of our efforts to transform how customers engage with our products and services.”
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“General Motors is at the forefront of deploying AI in practical and effective ways that ultimately create better customer experiences,” Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian said in a statement of his own. “We’re looking forward to a deepened relationship and more collaboration with GM as we explore how the company uses generative AI in transformational ways.”