Intelligent Systems in Automobiles: AI in the Automotive Industry

Self-driving cars aren’t here yet, but they aren’t the only new type of driving experience coming to consumers. Intelligent systems are connecting your car to the cloud, and vehicles that use this technology are already available, right now.

Toyota, Lexus, Tesla, Chrysler, Kia, Audi, and Mercedes are just some of the car companies that have already released vehicles which are cloud-enabled. Although these “smart cars” aren’t completely reliant on artificial intelligence in order to run, like self-driving cars are, they have covetable additional features made possible by intelligent systems technology. Here are just a few of the more appealing features made possible by smart car technology:

Improved Safety

Have you seen the commercials for those cars with sensors in them that will stop your vehicle for you if you get too close to hitting another car? That’s just scratching the surface of intelligent systems tech. This technology uses algorithms to predict the actions of the other vehicles on the road. It can stop your car from hitting another car, stop your car from hitting a pedestrian, help guide you when changing lanes, help to keep you in your lane with smart steering technology, or even predict traffic patterns to get you to your destination faster. More cars on the road with this technology would mean fewer accidents and improved travel times.

Mapping and GPS

Even though it can’t drive you there itself, your car is currently able to tell you how to get where you want to go. GPS technology in combination with intelligent systems is creating even more capabilities. Ford is currently looking into using artificial intelligence technology to help your car remember your driving habits and take you where you usually go at the times you usually go there. If you are a heavy user of Google Maps, this might make even more sense to you. Google Maps can remember your frequently visited destinations, and you can even program it to remember destinations like, home, work, and school. That kind of mapping technology is akin to what your car is able to use already with intelligent systems, but Ford is proposing to take it one step further with having your car suggest destinations for you based on your driving habits without you having to tell it to.

Weather and Traffic Monitoring

Using intelligent systems, your car is able to monitor things like inclement weather and bad traffic. With a link to the cloud, your car can see what’s going on in real-time to help you navigate your way around incidents to get you to your destination faster and safer.

Fuel Efficiency

This one is more for hybrid cars, than standard gas vehicles, but smart cars can detect when you are running low on fuel. The car can automatically switch itself to run on battery instead of gas for optimal energy usage. In the future, these cars may be able to anticipate entering low-emissions zones on your route and save enough battery power so that they can switch from gas to electric when you drive through those areas.

Intelligent systems are being incorporated into vehicles more and more frequently by manufacturers. These systems are created by Computer Scientists using complex algorithms and cloud linking. Analytics and the ability of these vehicles to forecast and predict the outcomes of programmable situations is another key factor in their ability to operate.

Capitol Technology University offers a highly regarded computer science program, as well as a few different analytics-based programs (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) that could help you learn to design the smart cars of the future. To learn more about our programs, please contact admissions@captechu.edu or call 1.800.950.1992.