Will.i.am and AI Are Guiding Mercedes through the 21st Century

• Intent on staying relevant, Mercedes-Benz is debuting a few new technologies at the 2024 Consumer Electronics Show.
• Namely, the MBUX Virtual Assistant will employ artificial intelligence in the form of a new virtual assistant with customizable voices and moods.
• Plus, Mercedes is bringing back legendary rapper, singer, and producer Will.i.am to help fine-tune its new MBUX Sound Drive stereo system.

As the Consumer Electronic Show rolls around each year, there is often a theme or vignette of the freshly started New Year that accompanies it. So, it should come as no surprise that this year's unofficial theme appears to be artificial intelligence and all the ways it is supposed to make our lives better.

The jury is largely still out on the long-term and scoped effects of these independently intelligent processing systems, but many automakers, including Mercedes-Benz, are eager to have their systems in the limelight. Launching its new MBUX Virtual Assistant, Mercedes says drivers' lives will get a whole lot easier.

Mercedes’ MBUX Collectible NFTs shown here in an E-Class interior.

The backbone of this new assistance system comes from advanced software and the use of generative AI, which Mercedes claims will foster a natural and intuitive relationship between driver and car. If that wording is making you reminisce about Spike Jonze's 2013 film Her, then you're not that far off, either. Sans the romance, perhaps.

That's because the new virtual assistant has four personalities, ranging from Natural and Predictive to Personal and Empathetic. Each personality will have its own unique voice and visual package, allowing the driver to tailor their preferred interaction style. You won't have to say Hey Mercedes anymore, either.

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Instead, the system will be monitoring the situation and environment at hand and can proactively offer suggestions or routines. Sounds like a lot of unsolicited advice, if you ask me, but at least prospective Mercedes drivers will have an avatar to direct their ire at.

Paired with the new voices, Mercedes is also offering a ‘living’ star avatar made up of advanced 3D graphics from the Unity game engine.