TomTom creates AI-based conversational assistant for vehicles with Microsoft
Users to converse with vehicles and voices interact with infotainment, location search and vehicle command systems
19 December 2023 - 14:46
byAgency Staff
Support our award-winning journalism. The Premium package (digital only) is R30 for the first month and thereafter you pay R129 p/m now ad-free for all subscribers.
A TomTom navigation device is seen in this photo illustration taken in Amsterdam. Picture: REUTERS/ROBIN VAN LONKHUYSEN
Digital mapping specialist TomTom said on Tuesday it has partnered with tech giant Microsoft to create an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered conversational assistant for vehicles.
The assistant will allow users to “converse naturally with their vehicles” and enable voice interaction with infotainment, location search and vehicle command systems, said the company.
TomTom, which competes with Google Maps and the world's biggest mapping platform HERE, used various Microsoft services such as its Azure OpenAI Service to create the voice assistant.
The Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service allows enterprises to leverage ChatGPT maker OpenAI's large language models (LLM).
The voice assistant can be integrated into other automotive infotainment systems and is also built into TomTom's Digital Cockpit, an open, modular in-vehicle infotainment platform, said the Dutch map maker.
Finance chief Taco Titulaer told Reuters in October that TomTom saw new opportunities in generative AI and was “investing time and money and people” into the technology.
TomTom had launched an LLM plug-in for ChatGPT in July to allow the chatbot's users to plan trips and explore new places using its maps.
The company began working with Microsoft in 2016, when it first started powering Azure Maps location services.
Support our award-winning journalism. The Premium package (digital only) is R30 for the first month and thereafter you pay R129 p/m now ad-free for all subscribers.
TomTom creates AI-based conversational assistant for vehicles with Microsoft
Users to converse with vehicles and voices interact with infotainment, location search and vehicle command systems
Digital mapping specialist TomTom said on Tuesday it has partnered with tech giant Microsoft to create an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered conversational assistant for vehicles.
The assistant will allow users to “converse naturally with their vehicles” and enable voice interaction with infotainment, location search and vehicle command systems, said the company.
TomTom, which competes with Google Maps and the world's biggest mapping platform HERE, used various Microsoft services such as its Azure OpenAI Service to create the voice assistant.
The Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service allows enterprises to leverage ChatGPT maker OpenAI's large language models (LLM).
The voice assistant can be integrated into other automotive infotainment systems and is also built into TomTom's Digital Cockpit, an open, modular in-vehicle infotainment platform, said the Dutch map maker.
Finance chief Taco Titulaer told Reuters in October that TomTom saw new opportunities in generative AI and was “investing time and money and people” into the technology.
TomTom had launched an LLM plug-in for ChatGPT in July to allow the chatbot's users to plan trips and explore new places using its maps.
The company began working with Microsoft in 2016, when it first started powering Azure Maps location services.
Reuters
TomTom to lay off 500 as it improves automated map-making
Just Eat executive Gerbig probed for ‘personal misconduct’
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.
Most Read
Published by Arena Holdings and distributed with the Financial Mail on the last Thursday of every month except December and January.