TomTom and Microsoft develop in-vehicle AI voice assistant

Digital maps and location tech specialist TomTom has partnered up with Microsoft to develop an AI voice assistant for vehicles.

According to the Netherlands-based company, the automotive assistant enables voice interaction with location search, infotainment, and vehicle command systems. This means that drivers can “converse” with the vehicle, ask questions about navigation directions or route stops, and use voice control to regulate the temperature, for instance, or open the windows and change radio stations.

The AI assistant uses multiple Microsoft products, including its Azure OpenAI Service, Azure Kubernetes Services, Azure Cosmos DB, and Azure Cognitive Services. It’s already built into TomTom’s Digital Cockpit, the company’s own in-vehicle infotainment platform, but can also be integrated into other automotive infotainment systems.

TomTom — which has been competing with Google Maps and offering a European alternative to the Silicon Valley digital map services — has been working with Microsoft since 2016, when it began powering Azure Maps location services.

“Together with Microsoft, our shared vision is to drive innovation with generative AI and provide our customers with even better solutions,” said Mike Schoofs, CRO at TomTom.

Meanwhile, in July, TomTom became the first company of its kind to release a plugin for ChatGPT. This enables developers to add AI-based navigation features to their apps, while drivers can converse with the LLM for location search, routing, and traffic information.