Artificial Intelligence in the Next-Gen Automobile

The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) held in Las Vegas in the first week of Jan each year sets a nice pointer to technologies that are going to remain in focus in the new year. This year artificial intelligence (AI) with the associated technologies such as smart IoT sensors and increasingly powerful and seamless human machine interfaces (HMIs) proved to be the cynosure of all eyes that passed by.

Most global automobile companies are working on driverless cars that are based on continuous advances in computer vision and deep learning technologies. The Japanese automobile giant Honda showcased a tiny optical sensor that can fit in the rear view mirror of a car and measure throat movement of the passengers in the car. This helps to improve the clarity of conversations amongst passengers in noisy environments.

Mobility as a service can witness a dramatic transformation in experience with smart new experiences for both the driver and passengers. Hyundai showcased how you could step inside your car and choose your mood on arrival to say your office. By monitoring biometrics and facial expressions, the car controls temperature and lighting and even emits soothing fragrances to ensure you arrive either energised or relaxed to work. Hyundai also demoed a smart mobility chair that transports you from the vehicle to the home, where it docks into its base equipment. While this may sound a bit too futuristic, but this chair actually controls music, video, lighting, appliances, security, etc in an intelligent and anticipatory fashion. For this, it takes rich feedback from networked sensors and actuators – all with voice control.

ChangHong showcased a contactless EEG brain control device which is embedded in a headrest. This device is smart enough to pick up brainwaves from a user to control the speed of a car in a video game. This is another example where smart sensors and human machine interactions, when combined with artificial intelligence technologies could create tangible advances in the way we drive, work and play.

Needless to mention here, such advances in AI depend heavily on the security, resilience and interoperability amongst different IoT networks. Many auto manufacturers have already demonstrated and are also working on advanced self-driving capabilities, however, the network that works in most cars still remains isolated with a myriad of protocols that require oodles of work to secure. To meet this end, automobile companies are working with the global IT giants to deliver advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and next-gen mobility experiences to revamp vehicle networks. For instance, Cisco is working with Hyundai to create a strong network backbone for their vehicles that would help Hyundai to simplify its network and seamless connect to other vehicles, through the cloud.