Google is making the Gemini AI assistant that’s already in millions of cars, trucks, and SUVs a lot more personal — a move that could push consumers even deeper into the company’s ecosystem of products.
The company said Tuesday it’s upgrading Gemini in vehicles with a personal intelligence feature that can draw on information from Gmail, Google Calendar, YouTube, Maps, Google Search history, and other connected Google services to understand your preferences, activities, and past experiences.
Google said it will roll out “Personal Intelligence with Gemini” to vehicles in two ways — through Android Auto, an app that runs on the user’s phone and wirelessly communicates with and projects navigation, media, and messaging to the vehicle’s infotainment system, and Google Built-in, software and services that have been directly integrated into the vehicle.
The feature will launch in Android Auto, starting today, and expand to cars with Google Built-in in the coming months.
Google initially launched Gemini last November in Android Auto. Meanwhile, Gemini’s “Personal Intelligence” feature rolled out across the U.S. in March and is now in beta in global markets.
This latest upgrade would connect the dots — as Google put it in its blog post — across users’ Google apps.
Drivers will have to opt in for Personalized Intelligence to work. Once a user does so, they should expect all sorts of cross-pollination. For instance, a driver who is navigating to the airport may be alerted that the flight on their calendar is delayed.
Google said the feature will allow users to make complex requests using natural language. Returning to that airport example, a user might ask the AI assistant for their flight gate before quickly following up with a question about whether it’s still on time. Gemini will give the user answers to both questions at the same time, the company said.
That level of emmeshing might make consumers uncomfortable, although Google says users do retain full control over their data with Personal Intelligence. The feature can be turned on or off at any time, and users can selectively choose which apps they’d like to connect, Google said.
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Kirsten Korosec is a reporter and editor who has covered the future of transportation from EVs and autonomous vehicles to urban air mobility and in-car tech for more than a decade. She is currently the transportation editor at TechCrunch and co-host of TechCrunch’s Equity podcast. She is also co-founder and co-host of the podcast, “The Autonocast.” She previously wrote for Fortune, The Verge, Bloomberg, MIT Technology Review and CBS Interactive.
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