Luo Yonghao Criticizes EV Makers for Poor In-Car AI Assistants
Chinese tech entrepreneur Luo Yonghao publicly criticized new energy vehicle (EV) manufacturers for failing to integrate full-featured, top-tier large language models like Doubao, Qwen, or Kimi into their smart cockpits. After testing dozens of vehicles, he stated that no auto manufacturer provides un-truncated top AI models for in-car conversational Q&A. The commentary highlights a growing divide between carmakers attempting to lock users into proprietary, lightweight in-car AI models and consumers wanting access to high-performing cloud LLMs. It points to a potential market opportunity for EV manufacturers to offer full-scale third-party LLM integration as a premium subscription service for commuters. Luo specifically exempted vehicle control systems from his criticism, recognizing that safety regulations constrain core car operations, but argued that general voice interaction should not be limited. He suggested car companies allow users to pay extra for full-featured third-party AI models so drivers can work efficiently during daily commutes.
## BACKGROUND
Modern intelligent cockpits in electric vehicles increasingly rely on AI voice assistants powered by Large Language Models (LLMs) to answer driver queries and control infotainment systems. In China, leading general-purpose chatbots such as ByteDance's Doubao and Moonshot AI's Kimi have achieved high performance and widespread adoption. However, automakers frequently deploy smaller, customized, or offline models due to latency, compute constraints, and data privacy concerns, often resulting in inferior conversational capabilities.