Your next Mercedes-Benz wants to talk about that restaurant you like

Buyers of the next-generation Mercedes-Benz CLA due later in 2025 will take advantage of the brand’s upgraded MBUX Virtual Assistant using Google Cloud’s new Automotive AI Agent, allowing them to have “personalised conversational engagement” over multimedia functions including navigation, search and media.

Based on Google Gemini and incorporating Google Maps data, the improved Virtual Assistant will use natural language understanding to deliver a more customised navigation experience, says Mercedes-Benz.

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(L to R) Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google and Alphabet, Ola Källenius, CEO of Mercedes-Benz Group AG and Thomas Kurian, CEO of Google Cloud

Users can converse naturally with their car and get answers to questions like: “Could you guide me to the nearest fine-dining restaurant for a unique culinary experience?”; “Does the restaurant have good reviews?”; and even, “What is the chef’s signature dish?”

The integration with Google Maps will allow the assistant to access fresh information about 250 million places around the world. Google claims that the map is updated almost in real time, with over 100 million updates made daily.

Because it also remembers past conversations, users are able to continue conversations and reference information throughout their drives. Want to ask the car about the restaurant you were curious about last week? It’ll remember and be able to give you information such as reviews and directions to it as well.

Mercedes is yet to fully reveal the new CLA, but has confirmed that it will feature both electric and hybrid drivetrains, as well as its new ‘MB.OS’ operating system. Australian details are yet to be announced.