The proof of the pudding will, of course, be just how much Mercedes’ new technologies are actually used. That measure will be based on both existing research — including Mercedes beta testers, of which around 900,000 vehicle owners are currently eligible — and on feedback once those systems are out in the wild.
LLMs, for instance, are going to take some tuning. “It’s a brand new tool,” Östberg says, “it’s a tool we didn’t have before. But we have to learn how to use that tool.”
From the beta, there’s been a 50% uptick in “Hey Mercedes” usage versus the traditional voice control system. Östberg also plans to use anonymized use data from vehicles in the global fleet to see geographic differences, which features are being used frequently, and which might not have hit the mark at all. There’ll also be more detailed feedback when the MBUX Virtual Assistant can’t help, whether that’s for reasons of lackluster connectivity or anything else. In short, if you want your car to be good conversation, it might require some sharing — and some patience — in order to unlock the most useful gains.
