Can you think of more than five examples of moments in a day when you don’t have your smartphone with you? While a couple of them are apparent, like bathing, sleeping and driving, the rest are not relatively that easy. Internet, technology and connectivity have become the very fabric of our existence. And with IoT (Internet of Things), many of us are already controlling lights, air conditioning and other appliances with our smartphones. 

MG has taken this convenience from your smartphone and has integrated it into its latest launch – the MG Astor. After all, driving is the one time you shouldn’t use your smartphone. And inside the MG Astor SUV, this experience has been humanized as well. Welcome to the Astor AI (Artificial Intelligence) assistant. 

With a pursuit for innovation and evolving software at the heart of its production, MG has continued to provide a more intelligent and safer driving experience in its best family SUV. In the MG Astor, this technology comes alive through its AI assistant that sits atop the dashboard. It not only portrays emotions and actions but even turns and looks at you when you call it by saying “Hello Astor”. 

Furthermore, this AI assistant has been tuned to mimic human-like behaviour by using cute emotion graphics. The assistant recognizes who is talking to it and looks at you with a rotating face while listening, responding, and understanding your accent. And when it talks back, the voice sounds familiar – of the paralympic athlete and Khel Ratna Awardee Dr Deepa Malik, which makes it feel less like an assistant and more like a companion.

The AI assistant gets a lot done on the move with just voice commands. It can control several car features and answer queries that you need to search the internet for. You can ask Astor to set up navigation to your destination, increase or decrease the climate control temperature, control media and volume, and even open and close the skyroof. 

Furthermore, you can ask Astor about the weather, the score of an ongoing match, and any trivia you might seek. Astor will search and source information from Wikipedia. 

As mentioned, the AI is less of an assistant and more like a companion. That is why you can talk to it in Hinglish. That’s right; the AI understands 35+ Hinglish commands as well. And when you are stuck in traffic and getting bored, you can ask Astor to tell you a joke. And on festivals, Astor will even greet you with cheerful animations and sounds. 

These qualities and capabilities of the MG Astor AI make it unique and handy on daily drives. The MG Astor is also the first SUV in India to have this kind of robotic personal assistant embedded in the car. Imagine, no need to move an inch to control media and set navigation, even to control vehicle functions, do all of it with just your voice. And that too while talking to a figure that responds with motion and emotion. We indeed have entered into a new era of connected cars.