GM is shoving Gemini into 4 million cars. Let’s hope it’s better than the current assistant.

GM just announced it’s bringing Google’s Gemini AI assistant to roughly four million vehicles across the US. If you own a model year 2022 or newer Cadillac, Chevrolet, Buick, or GMC with Google built-in, you’re on the list. The update comes as an over-the-air software push for the infotainment system, spread out “over several months.” That’s a lot of cars.

GM is calling this “one of the largest deployments of Gemini in the industry,” which is the kind of boast you’d expect from a company that’s been slow to modernize its in-car tech. The promise is that customers will notice “an upgrade from the current Google Assistant to a smarter, more intuitive AI assistant that continues to improve over time.” I’ve used the current Google Assistant in a Chevy, and frankly, the bar is low. It’s fine for basic stuff like navigation or music, but it often stumbles on complex commands or multi-step requests. Gemini could be a real leap forward, or it could just be the same assistant with a new name and a few extra parlor tricks.

The real question is whether this will be more than a gimmick. The current assistant already handles voice commands for climate control, navigation, and media. Gemini should be able to handle more natural language, like “find a coffee shop on the way to my next meeting” or “read me the latest news about electric vehicles.” But the hardware in these cars isn’t exactly cutting-edge, and infotainment systems are notoriously laggy. If Gemini is running on the same underpowered chips, it might not feel much faster.

GM has been pushing Google built-in since 2019 with mixed results. Some owners love the integration, others hate the lack of Apple CarPlay. This move doubles down on Google’s ecosystem, and it’s a clear signal that GM is betting big on AI-powered assistants to differentiate its vehicles. But I’ve seen this before. Automakers love to announce big AI updates, only for the actual experience to fall flat. Remember when BMW promised a “revolutionary” voice assistant in 2020? Yeah, me neither.

Still, if GM gets this right, it could be genuinely useful. Imagine asking your car to “reschedule my 3 PM meeting and send a message to Sarah” while you’re stuck in traffic. That’s the kind of hands-free productivity that actually matters. But it’s also the kind of thing that requires flawless execution. One wrong command or a laggy response, and you’ll just yell at your dashboard like everyone else.

I’ll be watching this rollout closely. Four million cars is a huge sample size, and the feedback will be telling. If Gemini actually makes the infotainment experience smoother, GM might have a winner. If it’s just the same old assistant with a new coat of paint, it’ll be another overhyped feature that nobody asked for.