“Hey Hyundai, what do you think of the upcoming election?” If you think this question won’t get an answer in the 2026 Hyundai IONIQ 9, think again.
Recently upgraded to a full generative AI chatbot instead of a simple question-and-answer system, the Hyundai AI Assistant is a smart addition that makes it easier to find destinations, check sports scores, or just chat for fun.
Hyundai has added the AI bot as a standard feature. I was able to use it for controlling car systems like temperature, but the really fun part is when you start a conversation.
That question about politics led to an entire discussion where the bot responded with the latest news and bits of trivia, and then I kept asking questions. GM recently announced they would implement a more conversational bot as well.
Why do we want to talk to our cars? For many years, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto have made it possible to send texts, and Apple added ChatGPT-style conversational responses to Siri a while ago. But I liked being able to say just about anything and have the bot understand me. I also liked saying “Hey Hyundai” to get the chatbot’s attention.
I didn’t try this, but beyond the standard car controls for the infotainment system (playing a specific radio station), asking for directions, and controlling climate settings, you can also ask the IONIQ 9 to open the trunk.
I’ve also heard you can ask the bot about specific settings, like the sound balance — I plan to test those next time I’m behind the wheel of this one.
The future looks bright for in-car AI systems like this, beyond having conversations. I’d like to be able to ask about specific maintenance issues like “What is the fluid level of the oil or radiator fluid?” I was able to ask about EV driving tips and found advice for extending the range of this electric vehicle — mostly things like avoiding rapid acceleration.
I also found I could tweak a few other settings related to handling. I’m not a fan of aggressive regenerative braking as a way to conserve range, so I turned off those features.
There are four levels as far as I could determine — one that disables regenerative braking altogether, a few happy mediums with some assisted braking, and then a mode where you essentially let the car do all of the braking. The reason I don’t like too much assisted braking is because I prefer to feel in control of my own driving.
I wasn’t able to adjust those settings by voice, but I imagine that’s coming soon.
For this test on the 2026 Hyundai IONIQ 9, most of my chats weren’t even about the car’s settings. I asked about sports scores, the weather, and even upcoming movie releases. It helped pass the time when I was driving alone and served as a fun tech demo for passengers.