GM to Launch Proprietary In-Vehicle AI Assistant Beyond Google Gemini's Capabilities

GM to launch new in-vehicle AI system later this year

DETROIT - General Motors plans to launch its own in-vehicle artificial intelligence system that's better tailored for its customers later this year. The new GM AI assistant is expected to be more integrated with the vehicle as well as its capabilities and telematics information than the company's recently launched Gemini AI assistant from Google, according to Anna Santos, GM director of product management of voice and AI/machine learning. "Later this year, we'll be launching a more deeply integrated native AI assistant that combines conversational AI with GM vehicle knowledge and OnStar intelligence to create those capabilities that go beyond what a general purpose assistant can do," she told CNBC. GM last year announced the Gemini AI bot would launch this year in millions of 2022 model-year vehicles and newer, followed by a GM AI assist, but did not provide additional details on the technology. Santos said the new GM assistant, which she declined to disclose a name for, will be able to better "understand the vehicle, the drive and our customers' needs, and make everyday ownership simpler." With Gemini, customers can speak naturally without memorizing commands or repeating context. It also is beginning to offer "live sessions" in which the bot will speak with a like a normal conversation or play games like trivia or 20 questions. It also can control some aspects of GM vehicles, such as temperature and radio controls, but in general operates like it would through a phone. "This is the beginning of a broader AI journey for us," Santos said. "There's a limit to what an AI that's just sort of sitting at the top level of the vehicle can do." The Detroit automaker is working with an unnamed large language model provider on its technology to assist GM and its owners with predictive maintenance, vehicle telemetry and other more auto-focused features. That also could include commands such as "kids setting" that would tailor music, seats, heating/cooling and door lock controls for children. "It's data that's going to be proprietary to GM, and our goal is to make sure that we're bringing the right technology forward to enable us to build the deep vehicle expertise that we want to be able to bring to the AI assistant," Santos said.

GM is building its own in-vehicle AI assistant because Google's Gemini cannot access what the car knows

GM will launch a proprietary AI assistant later this year that goes beyond Gemini by integrating with OnStar, vehicle telemetry, and predictive maintenance. Unnamed LLM provider. Gemini stays. General Motors will launch its own in-vehicle AI assistant later this year, built to access vehicle data that Google's Gemini cannot reach. The system will integrate with OnStar, GM's telemetry systems, and proprietary vehicle knowledge to offer predictive maintenance, real-time diagnostics, and auto-specific commands that a general-purpose assistant cannot provide. GM is working with an unnamed large language model provider on the technology. "There's a limit to what an AI that's just sort of sitting at the top level of the vehicle can do," said Anna Santos, GM's director of product management for voice and AI. Gemini launched in eligible 2022 and newer GM vehicles earlier this year and handles conversational queries, temperature, and radio controls. The new GM assistant goes deeper: it will understand the vehicle's mechanical state, driving patterns, and owner preferences. Santos described a "kids setting" command that would adjust music, seats, climate, and door locks simultaneously. The distinction matters commercially. Gemini operates like a phone assistant projected onto the dashboard. GM's proprietary system uses data that belongs to GM, not Google. "It's data that's going to be proprietary to GM," Santos said. Google has been embedding AI across every product it controls, and GM's decision to build a parallel system rather than hand all vehicle intelligence to Gemini reflects the same concern Nadella raised about companies outsourcing their thinking to a single AI provider. GM is not replacing Gemini. Both assistants will coexist. The Gemini layer handles general queries and entertainment. The GM layer handles everything the car knows about itself. GM is also pushing its autonomous driving capabilities toward robotaxi-readiness, and an in-vehicle AI that understands predictive maintenance and telemetry feeds directly into fleet management for autonomous operations. Santos called it "the beginning of a broader AI journey." The unnamed LLM provider suggests GM is keeping its options open on which model powers the system, avoiding the single-vendor dependency that its Gemini partnership already created.

GM building in-vehicle AI assistant to go beyond Google Gemini

General Motors $GM plans to launch its own in-vehicle artificial intelligence assistant later this year, one designed to go further than the Google $GOOGL Gemini AI assistant the automaker introduced earlier in 2026, according to CNBC. Anna Santos, GM's director of product management of voice and AI/machine learning, said the new assistant will combine conversational AI with GM vehicle knowledge and OnStar intelligence. "Later this year, we'll be launching a more deeply integrated native AI assistant that combines conversational AI with GM vehicle knowledge and OnStar intelligence to create those capabilities that go beyond what a general purpose assistant can do," Santos said. Santos described the new system as having a deeper connection to the vehicle and its telematics data than Gemini, whose capabilities she characterized as constrained by its position in the stack. "There's a limit to what an AI that's just sort of sitting at the top level of the vehicle can do," she said. GM is working with an unnamed large language model provider on the technology. Santos said the assistant would be able to better understand the vehicle, the driver, and customer needs, with potential features including predictive maintenance, vehicle telemetry monitoring, and commands such as a "kids setting" that would adjust music, seats, heating and cooling, and door locks for children. She declined to disclose a name for the product. The Gemini assistant, which GM announced is now available in millions of 2022 model-year and newer vehicles, allows drivers to issue spoken requests in plain language and supports hands-free control of certain vehicle functions, including climate settings and audio. GM said Gemini is also rolling out "live sessions," a mode that enables more free-flowing dialogue or lighthearted activities like trivia. GM had previously signaled that a proprietary AI assistant would follow Gemini's rollout, though the company offered no specifics about what that product would look like, according to CNBC. "It's data that's going to be proprietary to GM, and our goal is to make sure that we're bringing the right technology forward to enable us to build the deep vehicle expertise that we want to be able to bring to the AI assistant," Santos said. GM separately reported second-quarter revenue of $48.03 billion earlier this month, raising its full-year profit targets for the second time in 2026. The company said digital services revenue climbed 20% during the quarter.