Advertisement
Baidu’s Ernie Bot to be used in Great Wall Motor’s vehicles to enhance conversation between driver and car
- The company said it has partnered with Baidu, a search and AI giant, to develop vehicles fitted with the chatbot tool known as Ernie Bot
- Aside from conversation, Ernie Bot provides services such as journey planning, in-car entertainment and generating images based on text inputs
Reading Time:2 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
Daniel Renin Shanghai
Great Wall Motor, China’s largest sport-utility vehicle (SUV) assembler, looks set to become the first carmaker to use Baidu’s ChatGPT-like artificial intelligence (AI) technology, which enables conversation between driver and car.
Advertisement
The company, based in Baoding in northern China’s Hebei province, said in a statement on Wednesday that it has partnered with Baidu, a search and AI giant, to develop vehicles fitted with the chatbot tool known as Ernie Bot, reinforcing a push to make cars more intelligent and user-friendly.
“Several innovative features have been tested in those vehicles that are being mass produced,” the statement said. “They will be gradually put into commercial use on a wide basis.”
Great Wall did not reveal which models will be the first to feature built-in Ernie Bot, China’s answer to OpenAI’s ChatGPT, a so-called large language model. Neither did it unveil a time frame for launching its first vehicle fitted with the conversational technology.
“Great Wall is taking a step closer to churning out vehicles with Ernie Bot built in because it has completed the tests,” said Cao Hua, a partner at the Shanghai private-equity firm Unity Asset Management, which counts AI among its investments.
02:27
Baidu unveils China’s answer to ChatGPT, sends stocks tumbling
Baidu unveils China’s answer to ChatGPT, sends stocks tumbling
“A tie-up between carmakers and [the] AI technology firm will expand the use of the chatbot tool.”
Advertisement