TomTom creates AI-based conversational assistant for vehicles with Microsoft
19/12/2023 06:30
Dec 19 (Reuters) - Digital mapping specialist TomTom
TOM2.AS said on Tuesday it has partnered with tech giant
Microsoft MSFT.O 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, the company said.
TomTom, which competes with Google Maps and the world's
biggest mapping platform HERE, used various Microsoft services
like 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, the
Dutch map maker said.
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.
(Reporting by Arsheeya Bajwa in Bengaluru; Editing by
Subhranshu Sahu)
((ArsheeyaSingh.Bajwa@thomsonreuters.com; +91 8510015800;))