Mercedes-Benz has set its sight on being the first ever car manufacturer to let its vehicles talk to an artificial intelligence.
The well-known automaker announced at the Mercedes innovation center in Silicon Valley that it will integrate Google Home into its vehicles in the near future.
The announcement precedes the actual demo which is expected to be done during the 2017 CES tradeshow though it did give a glimpse of what the tech could do.
Slash Gear was lucky enough to be at hand when Mercedes previewed the Google Home-integrated car system.
After triggering it with the "Ok Google" wake word, Google Home was told to "Let me talk to my Mercedes". The phrase initiates the digital assistant specific to the car.
From then on, the owner can ask the digital assistant, which has a slim difference in voice compared to the Google Assistant, any question like "Is my car locked?", "What's the mileage on my car?" or "When is my car's next service?". Another way the Google Home integration will help the car owner immensely is when he or she needs an address. The owner can ask the car's digital assistant through Google Home to look for the address of a certain place or the directions to that address. When the driver gets in the car, the address or directions will be ready.
Google is putting its feet on the pedal in its effort to get the better of its closest rival, Amazon Echo and its AI Alexa. Amazon's Alexa so far is the AI with the most skills but Google's Assistant has some qualities in itself that is better than Alexa's.
As for Mercedes-Benz, it has long been interested in the future of the car industry in terms of technological advances. In fact, it has been ... the Merced-Benz Future Talk for four years now. In the recent one held in Berlin, experts from the company discussed the role of artificial intelligence on the future of the company.
"Artificial intelligence is a key future topic for Mercedez-Benz, in-car and beyond, such as in the fields of mobility services or in development and production," explained Daimler group head, Anke Kleinschmit.
