The Two Most Important Ways AI Will Impact Next-Gen Vehicles

It goes without saying that a lot of AI-based developments in the automotive sector will be centered around self-driving technologies. Today, most new cars sold in the U.S. feature some level of Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) that make use of components like onboard cameras, sensors, and radars to enable features like traffic sign recognition, lane departure warning, and pedestrian detection.

While fully autonomous driving may not be ready yet, ADAS technologies will continue to evolve, and Dr. Mears believes that the next-generation vehicles will see a major leap in their capability. Dr. Mears states, “The two most important areas that I see will be in realization of real-time localization (recognizing and responding to environmental conditions), and in overall intelligent transportation systems, where vehicles communicate with one another and with the road infrastructure to recognize, adapt, and respond to real-time changes in environmental conditions.” 

In particular, Dr. Mears believes that “many of these future vehicles will become extremely good at real-time localization.” He also believes that future vehicles, instead of behaving like standalone entities, will be able to become part of an intelligent transportation system.