BMW and IBM's Watson team up to develop driver assistance technology

Recently, IBM's Watson artificial intelligence system has become well-known for assisting doctors in diagnosing cancer treatment. Now, the popular Watson artificial intelligence system has turned to the automotive field to help improve the safety and personalization of vehicles.

IBM recently said that it has used its Watson artificial intelligence system with BMW Group to jointly develop new driver assistance features.

IBM said in a statement on Monday that it connected four BMW i8 hybrid sports cars to IBM's Bluemix cloud platform to demonstrate how the Watson intelligent system can enable a conversational human-machine interface between the vehicle and the driver.

"Under this agreement, the two companies will work together to build the underlying platform so BMW drivers can benefit from Watson's communication and machine learning capabilities," Harriet Green, global head of IBM's Watson Internet of Things business, said in a statement.

“Our insight is that while cars will continue to be people’s personal transportation, the driving experience will change dramatically over the next decade to a level that has never been seen since the advent of the automobile,” Green said.

BMW's alliance with IBM is the latest major move to help BMW gain an advantage in the development of fully autonomous intelligent connected vehicles. In recent years, automakers and suppliers have invested billions of dollars in the development and research of intelligent connected and autonomous vehicles.

Niklaus Waser, head of IBM's Watson Internet of Things in Europe, revealed in an interview that the owner's manual of the Watson BMW i8 model will be uploaded to the Watson system, so that the driver can ask questions to the vehicle through the human-machine interface and listen to the answers of the vehicle's intelligent system under the premise of safe driving.

Watson can also combine relevant information such as traffic information and weather conditions to provide up-to-date route suggestions. In addition, the system can monitor driver behavior and personalize their vehicle to improve their safety, vehicle performance and comfort.

This year IBM said it would spend $200 million on the Watson Internet of Things headquarters in Munich, Germany, where it plans to work with companies in the automotive, medical and appliance industries.

BMW is the first automaker to work with IBM's Watson team. Watson said IBM also hopes to work with other automakers in the future.

“There’s no reason for us to work with just one car company, BMW, and BMW didn’t ask for exclusive services,” Waser said.

He has not yet disclosed the specific number of engineers and R&D personnel assigned to the BMW project.

Although BMW is the first automaker to work with IBM's Watson, it is not the first automaker to work with IBM in the field of intelligent connectivity. IBM worked with PSA Peugeot Citroen in 2015 to study intelligent connectivity, and GM also said in October this year that it would use Watson's software to identify driver behavior and provide related services to motorcycle drivers using this information.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.