2025 VW ID.4 gets ChatGPT—why, we’re not sure

AI makes its way into Volkswagen's maiden electric car
VW says it'll be used as a voice assistant
VW also says your data won't be at risk from in-car use

Volkswagen confirmed Thursday that it’s carrying over its refreshed lineup of VW ID.4 EV models to the new model year essentially unchanged—and with most of the lineup now offering the ChatGPT-based voice assistant that the ID.4 gained for 2024.

As with the 2024 models, which arrived earlier this calendar year, the vast majority of the 2025 Volkswagen ID.4 lineup offers a punchier permanent-magnet rear motor unit allowing 282 hp in single-motor rear-wheel-drive form, or 335 hp in dual-motor all-wheel-drive form that includes a smaller induction motor in front. Meanwhile VW boosted ID.4 EPA range ratings to 263 miles for AWD versions or up to 291 miles for the single-motor version, both with the larger 82-kwh (77-kwh usable) battery pack.

The base ID.4 Standard, with its 62-kwh (58 kwh usable) battery pack is only offered with rear-wheel drive and keeps the 201-hp rear motor unit formerly used throughout the lineup. But for 2025, with the rest of the lineup, it now gets a 12.9-inch infotainment system with a revamped interface that cures, from what we could see in a first drive of the 2024 VW ID.4, nearly all of the interface ills of the ID.4 as it was initially launched. It keeps its Apple CarPlay and Android Auto compatibility, but it adds improved processing hardware to get rid of the latency, a tray of shortcuts, and climate functions that “stick” to the bottom of the screen. Supporting haptic sliders are now backlit and no longer laggy.

2024 Volkswagen ID.4

It also maintains the ChatGPT-embedded functions VW rolled out in January at CES—for which it’s been challenging to parse out what VW is doing with or without the help of AI. The automaker at that time emphasized that nothing changes for the driver. “There is no need to create a new account, install a new app or activate ChatGPT,” it summed. “If the request cannot be answered by the Volkswagen system, it is forwarded anonymously to AI and the familiar Volkswagen voice responds.”

VW has underscored, thankfully, that ChatGPT, or the integration partner Cerence, doesn’t gain access to vehicle data, and questions and answers are “deleted immediately to ensure the highest possible level of data protection.” At that time VW said that the new voice assistant could help answer general-knowledge questions, but in a CES demo Green Car Reports didn’t find it any easier than a Google search—or any more competent than Siri, which says something.

2024 Volkswagen ID.4

For 2025 this new assistant isn’t just for the ID.4. While VW didn’t list out exactly which other models in the lineup get it, it did say most of its 2025 models will get it.

Although it might be hard to tell what ChatGPT is doing as of yet, it’s not going away. VW has said that it’s developing a large-language-model-based system, once again incorporating AI, for a next-generation in-car assistant.

VW didn’t give any arrival date for the 2025 ID.4, but it does say it will be offered once again in a total of seven trims. VW did raise the price of the 2024 ID.4, versus 2023, but they start at $41,160 with the smaller pack and $46,300 with the larger pack. All versions are eligible for the full $7,500 EV tax credit, and given no expected change in its Tennessee assembly point or trade-partner-approved battery supply, we expect the 2025 models to continue to qualify.