According to a report by analysts from Global Market Insights Inc., the artificial intelligence market in the automotive industry will grow from 1 billion dollars today to 12 billion dollars by 2026. This growth is associated with the desire to expand auxiliary and autonomous functions to improve driving comfort and safety, as well as achieving the goal of creating driverless cars and trucks.
Artificial intelligence today is known as narrow AI (or weak AI) because it is designed to perform a narrow set of tasks (for example, only facial recognition, only Internet searches, or only driving a car). However, the long-term goal of many researchers is to create general AI (AGI or strong AI). While narrow AI may outperform humans at any specific task, such as playing chess or solving equations, general AI can surpass humans in almost all cognitive tasks. Artificial intelligence (AI) is evolving rapidly — from SIRI to driverless cars. While science fiction often portrays AI as human-like robots, AI can encompass everything from Google’s search algorithms to developing PokerStars bots for playing poker and enhanced gaming environments.
AI-based features are already being developed, tested, and offered in consumer cars. These include lane-keeping assistance, adaptive cruise control, and automated parking.
For example, Toyota announced the launch of a driver assistance system for future cars that will reach the 4th level of autonomous driving. One such feature — automatic parking for cars — was jointly developed by Toyota and Panasonic, and will provide accessible parking for Toyota customers.
Currently, several companies are developing AI for cars. Among them are Audi AG, Daimler AG, Ford Motor Co., Harman International Industries, IBM, Microsoft, Alphabet Inc., BMW, Didi Chuxing, General Motors, Honda Motor Co., Tesla, Uber Technologies, and Volvo Car Corp.
These companies primarily focus on long-term contracts and strategic cooperation to develop AI for the automotive market. Technology providers such as AMD, Intel, and NVIDIA continuously update and introduce new features and energy-efficient equipment that will operate in cars while consuming low power.
There is hope that AI will be able to maintain situational intelligence with the help of several next-generation sensors and onboard computers to detect and classify parameters such as traffic, road infrastructure, and pedestrians. It is forecasted that this “contextual information” segment will see an annual growth of 35% from 2019 to 2026 based on high demand for semi-autonomous cruise control and driver assistance functions.
To maintain context understanding, computer companies are investing in all kinds of innovative technologies. For example, Intel invested 250 million dollars in key technologies such as deep learning, security, and connectivity — technologies that are likely to be widely used if AI succeeds.
Another area of AI development is image/signal recognition, which will enable cars to “recognize and understand” road signs and speed limit indicators so that the vehicle can slow down without human intervention. Several government initiatives are promoting road sign recognition, which will ensure the observance of speed limits, thereby also helping boost the demand for artificial intelligence in automotive markets.
For example, the European Commission last year required that all cars manufactured after 2021 have built-in image or signal recognition. The goal is to reduce speeding and reckless driving, meanwhile improving safety on the roads.
Last year, the image/signal recognition segment accounted for more than 65% of the automotive AI market share due to the widespread belief that speed control is necessary to reduce the number of accidents.
In Europe, there are several major market leaders such as Audi, Daimler, Bentley, BMW, and Mercedes, who are the main players in the field of autonomous mobility. Car manufacturers are focusing mainly on AI technologies to ensure the widespread distribution and sale of driverless cars, especially the companies in the UK and Germany, where AI usage is encouraged.
Favorable government initiatives for the development of AI for intelligent traffic management have driven the development of AI for the automotive industry. For example, the UK government invested over 75 million dollars in improving mobility and developing AI solutions in 2017. Overall, Europe accounted for more than 35% of the funds spent on AI for passenger and commercial vehicles due to the growing demand for autonomous vehicles.
So, it is clear that in the next few years, cars will only become smarter.