New Gemini Feature in GM Cars Could Let Drivers Check Fuel Prices

GM announced earlier this week that it will upgrade 4 million vehicles with Gemini, Google’s family of generative AI models. The rollout will occur over several months and include GM’s four brands — Chevrolet, GMC, Buick and Cadillac — with model year 2022 or newer. The vehicles must already have Google built-in, an Android-based operating system integrated into the vehicle dashboard.

A representative for GM did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Google built-in operates much like a phone, giving drivers and passengers access to Google Maps, Google Assistant and the Google Play store. Typically, you cannot add Google built-in after you’ve bought the car. It has to be preinstalled at the factory.

Over the next several months, GM customers will receive a message on their vehicle’s infotainment screen indicating that the vehicle is ready for the upgrade to Gemini from the current Google Assistant. Customers will need to be connected to OnStar, signed into the Google Play Store, using US English as the language and opt in to Gemini.

What you can do with it

GM specified various possible uses for Gemini. One of them could help drivers save on gas, whose price just keeps rising in the US. For example, you could ask Gemini to plan the shortest route among your planned stops to find which station has the cheapest gas. 

You can also ask Gemini for the location of the nearest drive-through coffee shop or post office, have Gemini read incoming texts and then dictate responses with Gemini. Gemini can also locate a podcast to listen to or create a music playlist. 

To access entertainment, you’ll need to have apps such as Netflix, Hulu, Prime Video, YouTube, Spotify, Amazon Music or others loaded into your vehicle’s infotainment system. You can add apps via the Google Play Store.

GM said customers can use Gemini with natural, back-and-forth conversation, instead of commands.

Tony Quiroga, editor-in-chief of Car and Driver magazine, said Google Gemini is a way for GM to replace Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, which are absent from some GM vehicles and could be gone entirely within a few years. CarPlay and Android Auto are apps that connect phones with vehicle infotainment screens, enabling those screens to basically mirror what’s on your phone.

“GM clearly needs to find a replacement that gives drivers the same usefulness and ease of use,” Quiroga told CNET. “Auto companies are also seemingly obsessed with figuring out what the in-car experience is going to be when cars are able to drive themselves, and adding an AI interface could be part of that future.”