Google's Chatbot Now Handling GM's Non-Emergency OnStar Calls

General Motors (GM) has tapped Google's artificial intelligence-powered chatbot to automate non-emergency OnStar calls for navigation and call routing. To be clear, this chatbot is not Google's controversial Bard generative AI bot but rather Dialogflow on the Google Cloud platform.

GM claims that the chatbot can pinpoint keywords that indicate an emergency situation and will quickly route such calls to a trained human. This allows OnStar advisors to focus more time on actual emergencies, as per the automaker.

The interactive virtual assistant has used Google's Dialogflow technology since its launch in 2022. It can handle common customer questions and assist with routing and navigation, including turn-by-turn directions.

"The successful deployment of Google's Cloud AI in GM's OnStar service has now opened the door to future generative AI deployments being jointly piloted by General Motors and Google Cloud," both companies said in a joint statement on Tuesday.

GM says Google's technology has helped OnStar better understand customer requests from the first try. In addition, customers have reacted positively to avoiding hold times as they can quickly begin chatting with an AI-powered bot with a natural, modern-sounding voice.

The automaker claims the service is now handling over a million queries every month in the US and Canada. OnStar's interactive voice assistant (IVA) is available on most GM vehicles launched after 2015.

GM is also working on a ChatGPT-powered assistant for vehicles but there is no clarity if that project is still ongoing considering its deep collaboration with Google, which is not only powering OnStar IVA.

Separately, GM revealed that the same DialogFlow technology is behind the chatbot on the official website for the Detroit-based automaker. It helps conversationally answer customer questions about GM vehicles and product features based on technical data from the company's extensive repositories.

Commenting on the collaboration, Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian said, "General Motors is at the forefront of deploying AI in practical and effective ways that ultimately create better customer experiences. We're looking forward to a deepened relationship and more collaboration with GM as we explore how the company uses generative AI in transformational ways."