- Volvo and Google have teamed up to demonstrate how Gemini can integrate with a vehicle’s cameras.
- The new EX60 electric crossover is the first car where Google’s Gemini AI assistant can chat with occupants about their surroundings.
- The project has not been released publicly yet, but it looks really promising.
A lot of modern cars have at least one camera that can read road signs and help the driver avoid an accident. But a new generation of vehicles is upping the ante, thanks to more advanced computers, crisper sensors, and artificial intelligence.
At this year’s Google I/O event, Volvo teamed up with the American tech giant to showcase how the Gemini AI assistant that’s baked into cars with a Google-based infotainment system can grab information directly from the new EX60’s cameras, interpret it in real time, and deliver knowledgeable answers to the driver or passengers.
The project is still a work in progress, and the two companies are tight-lipped about when the feature could become widely available, but for an unreleased project, it looks really impressive. The driver can use voice commands to ask the car about a road sign that has words written in another language, and Gemini will automatically scan it, translate it, and describe what it means.
As part of the demonstration, the system was asked to describe a tall building that could be seen at the end of the street, and whether or not there was anything to do in or around it. Gemini replied that it was the Transamerica Pyramid in San Francisco, and that it’s mainly an office building, so not really a tourist attraction, but there is a park at its base. Additionally, the AI voice assistant asked if it should plan a route to a spot nearby.
If you’ve ever used Google Lens on your smartphone, this is a similar experience, only supercharged with Gemini and natural voice commands. Volvo said that the concept provides an early look at how contextually aware AI experiences will become part of the everyday driving experience in the future. And it’s all thanks to the Gemini model’s multi-modal understanding, as well as the EX60’s neural processing engine and software-defined architecture.
Google claims that privacy is at the forefront of this feature—it’s enabled only with the driver’s permission, and faces are blurred when images are being analyzed.
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Source: Volvo
We don’t know when this update will be beamed out to the new Volvo EX60 or other cars with Google built-in, but the tech giant did say that other improvements are coming soon. A car-optimized version of YouTube Music will be released soon for cars with a Google-based infotainment system, along with 3D Immersive Navigation in Google Maps, and a deeper integration for Gemini, which will be able to control various vehicle features through voice commands.
Google Maps’ Immersive Navigation feature recently debuted on Android smartphones, followed by a rollout on Android Auto, and it’s now slated to go live on cars with Google built-in. The first Volvo models to get the new Immersive Navigation feature in Google Maps will be the EX60, EX90, and ES90.