Volkswagen is adding AI voice assistants to its China-market cars this year

Voice commands will be the primary interface for the AI agents, which are coming to every model built on Volkswagen's China car platform. Rather than relying on cloud connectivity, the system processes data through a locally trained large language model stored onboard the vehicle, incorporating technology from Tencent, Alibaba, and Baidu.

"The car should be like a companion," Volkswagen China CTO Thomas Ulbrich told CNBC. Ulbrich described the assistant as something designed to anticipate what drivers want, with a distinct sense of "personality" built in.

Looking further ahead, a single agentic AI system is planned for launch next year that would integrate both driver-assist functions and cockpit controls.

At a Group Media Night in Beijing, Volkswagen unveiled four vehicles, including a new member of its ID. UNYX category that it co-developed with EV maker Xpeng in two years, according to the company. Volkswagen also displayed the first all-electric model in FAW-Volkswagen's ID. AURA series, which features the company's locally developed CEA E/E architecture.

The AI push is part of Volkswagen's broader effort to recover market share in China as the country shifts toward electric vehicles. The German automaker has invested in both Xpeng and automotive chipmaker Horizon Robotics in recent years. Nvidia $NVDA hardware has been sidelined in Volkswagen's Chinese lineup; an electric SUV arriving by late June will run on Xpeng's Turing chip, and a separate chip initiative tied to Horizon Robotics is still in progress, according to CNBC.

A November announcement confirmed that the Hefei research center had been granted authority to greenlight its own technology decisions for Chinese models, a move aimed at shortening development cycles. The company said it plans to launch more than 20 new electrified vehicles in China in 2026 alone.