King_of_lion Posted November 23, 2020 Posted November 23, 2020 Last year, the boffins in Munich created an event called #NEXTGen, a soirée which highlighted BMW’s technological developments and how they plan to shape the future face of transportation. Festivities in 2020 have understandably been moved online but continue to showcase new tech and vehicles, while also looking at some very specific examples of what next-gen mobility will look like. Artificial intelligence (AI) is no longer the stuff of Star Trek androids or rebelling robots being wrangled by Will Smith. BMW uses AI in more than 400 applications and in every relevant area of the company. It says it plays a particularly important role in the development of new vehicles and technologies, including the basis for automated driving. Interestingly, AI isn’t solely implemented when trying to take humans out of the equation; it’s deployed when assessing natural user experiences as well. The prerequisite for any application of artificial intelligence is, of course, a comprehensive database. In order to virtually map traffic in its driving simulation centre, and to train BMW vehicles on Automated Driving, the real-world road network and traffic events must be digitized — nearly a quarter-million kilometres of road to date. Computer nerdsaficionados will appreciate knowing the BMW Group High Performance D3 has over 230 petabytes of storage capacity in the target expansion, as well as more than 100,000 processor cores and over 200 GPUs (Graphics Processing Units). BMW #NEXTGen 2020 AI is already on the road in certain vehicles from the BMW Group, popping up in the form of the company’s Intelligent Personal Assistant (IPA). This feature is intended to make it easier for customers to operate the vehicle by simply speaking the command “Hey BMW,” activating the IPA and controlling many functions by voice command. The irony of this feature sharing its acronyms with a drink you’re not supposed to consume while driving is not lost on your author. AI helps here because it doesn’t necessarily require predetermined commands to interpret what the user wants. In time, it’ll learn your phrases and cadence, meaning the days of saying “Call Patricia” and the car replying “Calling towing assistance” are starting to fade into the rearview mirror. RELATED Mini's Vision Urbanaut is a digital car designed for the future, from the inside-out NEWS Mini’s Vision Urbanaut is a digital car designed for the future, from the inside-out by COLEMAN MOLNAR | NOVEMBER 17, 2020 It takes a team of professionals to make all this work, of course, and the challenges put in place by 2020 have made virtual collaborations more important than ever. Rethinking vehicle development is a key goal, with traditional engineering tools no longer adequate for developing features like the AI mentioned earlier. For that reason, BMW is the first manufacturer in the world to use technology from the gaming industry, having collaborated with video game developer Epic Games since 2015. A mixed-reality system, developed using components from the computer game industry, is used on projects such as these. This saves an abundance of time and effort, particularly in the early stages of development. Unlike conventional engineering tools, gaming technologies have functions like virtual reality and the ability for users to interact, which shortens lead times and permits designers to quickly visualize vehicle functions and new interior concepts. These tools also give developers a totally new level of flexibility unseen in older methods of design.
Recommended Posts