Ford’s new AI assistant saves you from googling that dashboard warning light

If you’ve stared blankly at your car’s dashboard warning light, searching the internet for what it means, Ford has something for you. The company has officially begun rolling out an AI assistant today through its Ford and Lincoln apps. 

As the automaker says, it is built specifically to answer real questions about your own vehicle. 

So what can this assistant actually do?

Unlike a general chatbot, Ford’s AI assistant is tied directly to your specific vehicle. In other words, it can pull real-time data, like your current fuel level, oil life, or tire pressure, the moment you ask. 

You can even type a question or capture a photo of an error blinking on the dashboard or a flat tire (through your smartphone), and it’ll walk you through fixes for common annoyances. As I mentioned in the beginning, not everyone reads a car’s manual while purchasing it or is aware of all the possible error lights on the dashboard. 

More than anything, Ford’s AI assistant can help owners with day-to-day warning lights and troubleshooting, figuring out new features, and helping people understand their cars better. 

How do you access it?

The AI assistant supports 2021 and newer connected Ford and Lincoln vehicles. To access it, you have to press the Blue Oval icon with a small spark next to it in the top corner of your Ford or Lincoln app. The automaker is rolling this out in waves rather than all at once, so there’s a chance that you might not get access immediately. 

Eventually, Ford aims to cover roughly 8 million eligible owners while catching bugs early. Right now it’s an app-only experience. By next year, the company wants to fold it directly into the dashboard, where it would work alongside navigation and media.

Ford hasn’t committed to one single AI model either. Vehicles running its Android-based infotainment system are still going to offer Google’s Gemini as a separate option in the meantime. 

All the use cases and the company’s plans to integrate it within the dashboard aside, I am most interested to see whether the in-car version of the AI assistant stays free once it fully lands next year.