Mercedes-Benz and Google Cloud (a Google company) have expanded their strategic partnership to introduce new conversational capabilities to the OEM’s MBUX Virtual Assistant, powered by Google Cloud’s new Automotive AI Agent. The new experience will launch first alongside Mercedes-Benz’s new CLA series later this year, while a rollout to further models equipped with the OEM’s voice assistant is also planned.
Built on Vertex AI using Alphabet’s AI model, Gemini, the agent has been designed with the automotive industry in mind and can reference information from the Google Maps Platform. Through this information, the companies are aiming to empower users with more detailed, more personalized, conversational responses on topics such as navigation, points of interest, and more.
Today, the Google Maps Platform provides key information on places around the world, with the map updated in near real-time. By pairing the platform with Google Cloud’s Automotive AI Agent, Mercedes-Benz owners can now converse naturally with the MBUX Virtual Assistant. Here, they could ask questions such as ‘Could you guide me to the nearest fine-dining restaurant for a unique culinary experience?’, as well as follow-up questions, including ‘Does the restaurant have good reviews?’, or ‘What is the chef’s signature dish?’, to which the assistant will respond with accurate, up-to-date information and accordingly display navigation details on the vehicle interface.
Google Cloud’s Automotive AI Agent will also enable the MBUX Virtual Assistant to handle complex, multi-turn, dialog and help the assistant retain memory of conversations, allowing users to continue conversations and reference information throughout drives. The agent more broadly allows OEMs to utilize generative AI and large language models (LLMs) to develop and deploy customized, first-party, voice assistant experiences. The new system was built using Google’s proprietary Gemini models, which enables multimodal reasoning capabilities through natural language speech interactions and uses information from Google Maps Platform.
