Skip to content
DynoBHP
Car News

Hyundai Bayon Brings Perplexity AI Into the Car, a First for Hyundai India

The India-spec Bayon will be the first Hyundai in India with a generative AI voice assistant, with answers from Perplexity and voice tech from SoundHound AI.

By AB Ayaz
Published
Share
Curved twin screens in the India-spec Hyundai Bayon, with the generative AI assistant active above the navigation map
The Bayon's twin curved screens with the generative AI assistant active. (Image: Hyundai)

The India-spec Hyundai Bayon will be the first Hyundai in India with a generative AI voice assistant, drawing its answers from Perplexity and its voice technology from SoundHound AI, the company said on 12 October ahead of the SUV's 26 October launch.

Hyundai says the assistant understands requests made in everyday conversation instead of relying only on preset commands. Its examples include planning a road trip itinerary, checking real-time weather, suggesting hotels and restaurants, listing the top five shopping spots nearby and giving sports scores.

Footnotes in the India press release set two limits. The assistant works only in English, and its answers are for information and convenience, not a substitute for the driver's judgement. The Bayon also carries more than 500 built-in voice commands that work without internet in six languages, including Hindi and Tamil, but these are separate from the AI assistant.

Why Perplexity and SoundHound

The pairing follows a deal the two companies announced in May 2024, which added Perplexity's live web answers to SoundHound's in-car voice assistant for questions that need current information. SoundHound is not new to Hyundai India. Its Houndify voice platform powered the voice recognition on the Venue when that SUV launched in 2019.

Rear three-quarter view of the red India-spec Hyundai Bayon, showing its full-width tail light bar and Bayon lettering
The India-spec Bayon's new rear with its full-width tail light bar. (Image: Hyundai)

How It Compares

The Bayon is not the first car in India with a conversational AI assistant. Mahindra and Google Cloud said in August that the MAIA assistant in the BE 6 SPORTEQ electric SUV runs on Google's Gemini Enterprise models. On 30 September, SoundHound said its generative AI assistant had debuted in India on Kia's Sorento, listed at ₹27.99 lakh to ₹40.39 lakh ex-showroom in the DynoBHP catalog as of September 2026.

Mahindra and Kia both describe their assistants operating cabin functions such as climate control and windows. Every example Hyundai gives for the Bayon is an information request, and the release links vehicle functions to the separate offline commands rather than to the assistant. In Europe, Hyundai described a different assistant, Gleo AI, for the new Tucson shown at the same Paris Motor Show.

Hyundai has not said which Bayon variants get the assistant, whether it needs a Bluelink subscription, or whether more languages will follow. The assistant sits alongside over-the-air updates and twin 12.3-inch screens in the India-spec Bayon's wider tech package. Bookings are open for ₹11,000.

Share