‘SMARTBEST 2025’: Opel wins AUTOBEST Award for ChatGPT

• Top connectivity: International jury of experts honours Stellantis brands for the introduction of ChatGPT in their vehicles
• Extensive line-up: ChatGPT now available in most Opel passenger cars and LCVs
• Easy access: ChatGPT activated by a simple “Hey Opel”

Opel makes top technologies accessible and affordable for everyone. This has also been recognised by the high-profile international AUTOBEST jury. The journalists from more than 30 countries have now awarded Opel and other Stellantis brands unanimously with the ‘SMARTBEST 2025’ for the introduction of ChatGPT 1 in their models. The award recognises pioneering solutions for onboard connectivity in vehicles.

“We are delighted to receive this award,” said Vanessa Repp, Vice President Future Product at Opel and Vauxhall. “The unanimous vote of the independent journalists shows that we offer vehicles with pioneering technologies that make driving more enjoyable and that at the same time customers can afford. This applies to locally emissions-free electric drives as well as intelligent connectivity solutions such as ChatGPT 1.”

With ChatGPT 1 Opel drivers and passengers have access to a wide range of information from a long list of topics including science, biology, nutrition, pop culture, music and many more. In combination with the navigation system, a "Hey Opel" is sufficient to use natural speech recognition – which has now become even more desirable thanks to the addition of ChatGPT 1. The system can now learn and independently suggest destinations and route guidance based on the habits of the linked driver profile.

Opel is currently rolling out ChatGPT 1 in the new Opel Mokka as well as in many other models like the new Opel Grandland, the Opel Corsa, the Opel Astra, the Opel Astra Sports Tourer, the Opel Combo and the Opel Zafira. Furthermore, the Opel Combo and the Opel Vivaro light commercial vehicles are also available with the artificial intelligence chatbot.

[1] This new service uses the power of generative artificial intelligence including the technologies of the SoundHound Chat AI platform. Version 3.5 of ChatGPT uses data dating back to January 2022 at the latest, and therefore has no knowledge of events and data after that date.

Painting with Light: Opel Experimental Can See in Dark

• German Energy: Opel Experimental fills brand pillars with new life
• Pioneering: Innovative brand concept shows future of intelligent light
• Deep learning: Artificial Intelligence (AI) can help cars recognise danger sooner

Visionary Opel Experimental, which CEO Florian Huettl presented to public for first time at last year's IAA Mobility in Munich, gives a glimpse of  brand's future. This can be characterised in three words: 

• Greenovation: Opel Experimental is fully electric with a reduced carbon footprint
• Detox: It is bold and pure in design; and focussed on essentials
• Modern German: It impresses with its proportions, intelligent aerodynamics, highly efficient use of space and state-of-art lighting technology, including for first time illuminated Opel Blitz logo

Opel Experimental expresses this German Energy in Painting with Light video. It takes viewers on a night-time experiment and shows future lighting technologies. At same time, it demonstrates that future innovative lighting technology will be capable of much more than simply illuminated road and surrounding area. It will increase safety and comfort while also sparking emotions.

IntelliLux LED: Democratisation of lighting technologies has long tradition at Opel

Making pioneering lighting technologies available to customers is a long-standing tradition at Opel. This is demonstrated by the continuous development of IntelliLux LED Matrix and Pixel Light, which Opel offers for many models, from Corsa to Astra, Mokka and Grandland to new Combo. Thanks to adaptive IntelliLux LED headlights, Opel drivers always have optimum vision in the dark, without dazzling other road users.

“Development is making great strides here,” says Philipp Röckl, Global Lead Complex Lighting at Stellantis. “A few years ago we were able to hide individual 'blocks of light', but areas that need to be hidden can now be captured more precisely and seamlessly.” This is made possible by, among other things, micro-LED-based HD pixel systems that have an even higher resolution than before and also offer highest level of energy efficiency. “In addition, we will have to think about light digitally in the future. Today's standard lighting control modules are no longer sufficient given high number of pixels. We are already working on vehicle architectures that enable graphical representation of light,” adds Röckl.

Electrochromic materials and AI: Lighting is more than “just” headlights

Ground-breaking Opel Experimental, a symbol of “German Energy”, shows what this future can look like – inside as well as outside. In  interior, electrochromic materials immerse passengers in atmospheric light and thus convey a feel-good factor. Reactive materials also have practical properties. For example, if a vehicle, cyclist or pedestrian is in blind spot of Opel Experimental, a coloured warning appears on inside of respective door as well as in head-up display. In addition, external side view recorded by cameras is projected onto inner door surface. This creates a visual “transparency effect” that allows a view outside to further increase visibility. New reactive technology can lift the mood and increase feel-good factor in cabin while also improving safety of driver, passengers and other road users with atmospherically changing light. This is exactly what Opel calls “Painting with Light”.

In “Painting with Light” video, Opel Experimental also shows how future lighting technology can expand view in completely extraordinary ways. Thanks to immersive, digital safety technologies, vehicles like Opel Experimental can recognise pedestrians quickly – and more clearly than ever before. Augmented reality-based technology then pulsates as a warning signal and displays other important messages and signals for drivers and road users through holograms.

“We want to optimise light for the driver and also for the camera, so that with help of AI it can recognize people and animals even better,” explains Röckl. Lighting, camera and sensor technology as well as algorithms must work together for future development so that car's predictive and therefore safety-enhancing capabilities can be optimised in every situation.

Opel Pixel Vizor with clear statements: Light as communications tool

Opel has already shown with award-winning Manta GSe how light signals can arouse emotions and increase safety. Wherever ultra-modern one-off in retro look appears, it attracts admiring glances. This is due not least to innovative Opel Pixel Vizor at front of Opel Manta GSe. Vehicle can communicate with its surroundings via Pixel Vizor. Statements like “My German heart has been ELECTRified” or “I am on a zero e‑mission” are written across front.

Engineers are continuously working on this "light communication of future" to increase safety of all road users. New, atmospheric “Painting with Light” video already gives an indication of how these developments could look like in future.

STADT:up Project: Opel Advances Automated Driving in Urban Areas

• Pioneering project STADT:up develops concepts and pilot applications for automated driving in complex city traffic
• Stellantis representative Opel participates in joint project as AI development partner
• Demonstration of complex environment recognition in the city by Opel vehicle prototype by end of 2025

Project STADT:up (Solutions and Technologies for Automated Driving in Town: an urban-mobility project) aims to take a big step closer to the goal of enabling automated driving in urban areas by the end of 2025. As the German brand in Stellantis, Opel is involved in the project funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action. The experts at the Rüsselsheim Engineering Center play an important role in the further development of vehicle environment recognition based on artificial intelligence (AI) and the translation into the situation-specific reaction in automated driving. Now the kick-off event of the consortium project with 22 project and development partners took place on the campus of Robert Bosch GmbH in Renningen, Germany. In addition, Opel aims to demonstrate an innovative prototype featuring complex environment recognition in urban areas by the end of 2025.

“By participating in the STADT:up project, Opel, as our German brand, is further advancing automated driving in urban traffic, on behalf of Stellantis. The engineers at the Rüsselsheim Engineering Center draw on many years of experience in this field. At the same time, we are strengthening our good cooperation with research institutions outside the company and continuing our commitment to supporting young scientists,” said Frank Jordan, Stellantis, Head of Innovation Germany.

Project goal: Demonstration of autonomous urban mobility with test vehicles

STADT:up is aimed at end-to-end, scalable solutions for future urban mobility. The vehicles must also be able to handle complex inner-city traffic scenarios safely and respond adequately to all situations within milliseconds. The various tasks for autonomous driving range from the comprehensive perception of the environment and the localisation of road users through the prediction, interaction and cooperation with other vehicles, to the behaviour and manoeuvre planning of the user’s own vehicle. The question of how mixed traffic consisting of pedestrians, cyclists, differently used vehicles and local public transport will develop is also of central importance. Correspondingly, suitable future concepts and the requirements derived from the needs of the users will also be developed in the project.

Key factors are the preparation and programming of the vehicle systems such as camera, LiDAR and radar to all possible scenarios until they are implemented in the computer system. This is where the AI experts at the Rüsselsheim site come into play. In addition to improving AI algorithms for perception and fusion, the team led by Dr. Nikolas Wagner and project manager Frank Bonarens places a special focus on the analysis and management of particularly challenging traffic situations. In addition to improving robustness, the aim of the research activities is to improve the traceability of the decisions of deep neural networks and to use them to check the plausibility of an automated driving system. This is intended to provide important building blocks for environment recognition in highly automated driving and to contribute to the efficient testing and validation of safety-relevant AI functions.

With the participation of the Rüsselsheim AI experts from the Stellantis research network, a long-standing Opel tradition of pre-competitive cooperation is continued. As with other research projects, the central pillars are the cooperation with renowned scientific partners from leading universities and research institutions as well as the doctoral program at the Rüsselsheim site.

In addition to automotive companies, leading suppliers as well as technology partners, universities and research institutions are represented in the consortium project led by Bosch. The highlight will be the final event planned for the end of 2025 with the joint presentation of the demonstrators developed in STADT:up. Opel's goal is to demonstrate the performance of the environment recognition system with its own test vehicle.

Groupe PSA vehicles will be equipped with smart assistant starting in 2020, thanks to SoundHound

• Groupe PSA has signed a strategic partnership agreement with Silicon Valley start-up SoundHound Inc., the leader in artificial intelligence (AI) and natural language voice recognition technology, to benefit the next generation of Groupe PSA vehicles
• The unique Deep Meaning Understanding technology developed by SoundHound Inc. is the only solution that, like a human being, can instantly answer multiple questions asked in a single sentence
• SoundHound is developing voice and AI integration algorithms to tailor the world's fastest speech recognition technology and seamless natural language understanding capability to Groupe PSA’s vehicles

The new generation voice assistant will enable Peugeot, Citroën, DS, Opel and Vauxhall customers to converse naturally with their vehicle.

The digital personal assistant will be able to act on its own to perform a variety of tasks, such as finding a restaurant that meets several criteria (e.g. open on Sunday evening), activating vehicle functions and launching connected services. With a single voice command, drivers will be able to simultaneously regulate temperature, ventilation and the direction of air conditioning.

Within two years, Groupe PSA will be rolling out the best conversational experience on the market, to provide users with a progressively more seamless, efficient interface. The easy‑to‑use voice assistant will simplify life on board for vehicle users and contribute to greater safety.