How is AI Transforming the Future of the Automotive Industry? Benefits and Use Cases

Sudeep Srivastava July 10, 2024

In today’s tech-savvy world, people want their vehicles to be as smart as their phones or computers. Thanks to artificial intelligence for bringing our vision of smart vehicles to reality! While the impact of AI is considerable in almost every business sector, AI in the automotive industry is immensely powerful.

Starting from industrial robots at production factories to self-driving vehicles, AI has transformed the automotive industry in various ways. It is why Mercedes-Benz, Toyota, Volkswagen, Tesla, Volvo, Bosch, and many other large industry players are proactively adopting AI technology to improve the customer experience.

Also Read: How AI can Improve Customer Experience Strategy?

Accordingly, automotive manufacturers are increasingly embracing advanced AI-based automotive software development solutions to realize the vision of automated vehicles. The result is an industry that counts on AI in the design and manufacturing of vehicles, making it obvious that hybrid cars, electric cars, and autonomous cars are the future of the automotive industry.

Let’s discuss some significant benefits and use cases of artificial intelligence in the automotive industry.

Benefits of AI in the Automotive Industry

The automotive industry is increasingly adopting AI technology to streamline operations and improve overall vehicle performance. By tapping into the potential of big data, IoT, AI, and ML in the automotive industry, artificial intelligence has completely transformed how vehicles are designed, manufactured, and driven. From autonomous vehicles to advanced safety systems, the advantages of AI in the automotive industry are enormous.

Read to know more about how 5G is transforming the automotive sector.

Let’s delve deeper to know some of the key benefits of AI in the automobile industry.

Benefits of AI in the Automotive Industry

Improved Safety

One of the significant advantages of AI in the automotive industry can be seen in the form of improved road safety. AI has enabled some highly efficient security systems like lane departure warning (LDW), autonomous emergency braking (AEB), and adaptive cruise control (ACC) to alert drivers to potential hazards, take preventive steps, and avoid fatal accidents from occurring

Predictive Maintenance

Since AI uses the power of IoT in automobiles, it also helps the industry with predictive maintenance. IoT systems assist in tracking the real-time conditions of vehicles by analyzing the vast trove of vehicle data, enabling managers to determine when maintenance is required. As soon as the IoT sensor suspects a potential issue, it alerts automobile managers to take preventive measures before they become a major concern. Moreover, AI also helps reduce emissions, optimize fuel efficiency, and improve the overall performance of vehicles.

Enhanced Driver Experience

AI-powered infotainment enabled in smart vehicles provides personalized experiences to passengers and the driver, making their journey safer, smarter, and more enjoyable. For instance, smart voice assistants in cars understand the regional language of the users and perform tasks such as playing music, guiding routes, adjusting the temperature, etc.

Autonomous Driving

Self-driving cars zooming around the roads used to seem like sci-fi a few years back, but now we live in a world where automated cars are ruling the market. This autonomous driving technology has delivered a new edge for the industry and a whole new experience for drivers with the potential to reduce accidents, increase mobility and improve traffic flow for physically challenged people who cannot drive.

AI assisted driving autonomy levels

Cost Savings

The adoption of AI in the automotive industry significantly helps reduce costs in all aspects of operations, from designing to manufacturing. By optimizing manufacturing processes, improving supply chains, and identifying potential issues in vehicles, AI can help reduce costs in various ways.

Overall, the Advancements of AI have made a massive contribution to the growth of the automotive industry, transforming how we interact and drive our vehicles.

Also Read: How to adopt artificial intelligence in your business? A complete guide

Use Cases of AI in the Automotive Industry

In the last couple of years, automobile experts have adopted four revolutionary trends – autonomous driving, car connectivity with data sensors, electrification, and shared mobility, better known as ACES. The collective concept of ACES fuels growth within the automotive industry, and AI is the driving force here.

The use of AI in the automotive industry is broad and diverse. From design and manufacturing to sales and maintenance, the applications of artificial intelligence can be noticed throughout the life cycle of a vehicle. It is why top-tier automotive brands strive to incorporate AI into their vehicles.

Use Cases of AI in the Automotive Industry

Let’s dive deeper into some of the common AI use cases in the automotive industry:

Driver Assistance

Driver assistance is one of the best uses of AI in the automotive industry. AI-enabled systems use sensors to assist with steering and pedestrian detection, monitor blind spots, and alert the driver accordingly, enabling them to take preventive measures to stay protected against road accidents.

Autonomous Vehicles

Autonomous vehicles, the next-generation cars with self-learning and self-driving capabilities, are indeed the best application of artificial intelligence in the automotive industry. With the adoption of AI technology like machine learning, deep learning, big data, etc., self-driving cars can drive autonomously with little to no human intervention, along with following safe driving and traffic rules.

While there are still some regulatory challenges in completely visualizing the concept of autonomous vehicles, we are closer to experiencing driverless cars roaming around on the road than one may think.

[Also Read: Semiconductors in the Automotive Industry: A Game Changer for the Tech-First Automobile Space]

Driver Monitoring

AI algorithms monitor whether it is the regular driver in the car or someone else is driving and then automatically adjust the mirrors, seat, and even temperature when it is the known user in the driver’s seat. Additionally, AI systems monitor the driver’s eyes and head position to detect drowsiness and wake up the driver.

AI in Manufacturing

The automotive industry heavily relies on manufacturing, where a small error can cause serious problems. But AI technologies can significantly improve the car making process, making it more advanced and efficient. For instance, manual labor picks parts from conveyor belts, which is an inefficient and time-consuming way to complete the car making process. But with AI technologies, robots can autonomously pick parts, minimize human intervention, and speed up the manufacturing process. Additionally, robots alert humans in case of any unexpected machine failure, preventing any mishaps.

Personal Assistant

While automobile companies often prefer implementing third-party voice assistants like Alexa and Siri, some industry players choose to build their own voice-recognition software. Such AI-enabled personal assistance in cars helps make calls, adjust the temperature, change radio stations, play music, inform about the gas amount in the tank, and do a lot more. Most importantly, voice recognition tools have high personalization capabilities, meaning they can remember the users’ interests and advise adjustments based on their history.

Passenger Experience

Considering passengers’ experience and safety on the road, automotive manufacturers strive to upgrade their vehicles with all possible AI technologies like IoT, image data, NLP, and object identification. In addition, specific commands allow passengers to listen to their favorite music, order food and do other engaging activities while enjoying their journey on the road.

Supply Chain Management

AI in the automobile industry is a valuable innovation in terms of efficiently managing its complex supply chain modules. A single vehicle has around 30000 distinct parts arriving from different corners of the world, making it an intimidating task for automotive managers to monitor the transportation journey of the components and track their arrival at the destination points. This complex nature of importing distinct vehicle parts makes the car-making process a real struggle. In this scenario, integrating AI and ML in the supply chains can help manufacturers create a fully automated system to efficiently manage the supply chain system, adjusting volumes and routes to the expected demand spikes for parts.

Also Read: Supply Chain Digital Transformation: Why It Should Matter to Your Organization?

Automotive Insurance

AI in automotive insurance is highly beneficial for both insurers and drivers alike. AI algorithms help speed up the insurance claim process in case of a mishap or a fatal accident. The AI capabilities, like object detection, image dataset, etc., help the driver collect incident data and fill out claims easily. On the insurer’s side, AI helps insurance companies process images and analyze vehicle damage efficiently to eliminate discrepancies and process claims faster.

Quality Control

Maintaining the quality of vehicles is the prime concern of an automobile owner to keep a higher customer count. However, inspecting vehicles manually can lead to fewer defect detection, slower issue resolution, and higher turnaround time. On the other hand, AI-based data annotation helps manufacturers detect even the minutest defect in the vehicles at an early stage and alert them to resolve the same before it becomes critical. AI system informs users which parts of the vehicles need to be changed and which parts call for maintenance.

Connected Cars

The rapid growth of IoT use cases in AI systems enables vehicles, smart watches, mobile phones, and infrastructure to connect with one another, making self-car driving much safer and a pleasing experience. For instance, connected cars can communicate with each other on the road to maintain a safe distance. Furthermore, connected vehicles help traffic managers get a bigger picture of the road situation and efficiently manage traffic flow.

Connected Cars

AI in Designing

Automobile manufacturers have to handle various sorts of tasks, right from chalking out the ideas for a car model to designing it in the same way, which can be very time-consuming. But with AI in the automotive industry, manufacturers and architects can perform real-time tracking, programmable shading, and other chores much faster to execute the car design process. With faster and better design workflow, AI helps minimize the time spent on design approval and sanction. Also, AI image datasets help manufacturers generate countless designs for better product ideas and workflow for autonomous vehicles.

These are some of the many use cases of AI in the automobile industry, significantly redefining the industry with the potential to transform how vehicles are designed, developed, and driven.

Future of AI in the Automotive Industry

AI-enabled vehicles are redefining the way we look at the automotive industry. Autopilot is actively working with smart parking, steering, acceleration, and breaking in Tesla vehicles. Some of the latest models of BMW are equipped with AI-powered voice assistants to enhance drivers’ comfort and safety. Audi uses computer vision for inspecting the sheet metal in vehicles, which can detect even the smallest cracks at the production stage. Furthermore, Mercedes-Benz is manufacturing level 4/5 autonomous vehicles along with the help of Bosch. Other companies are also actively embracing AI technologies by collaborating with a dedicated IT consulting firm to support their forward-thinking action plan and keep pace with the AI trends in the automotive market.

self driving car

Seeing the continuously growing numbers of automotive companies adopting the self-driving trend, we can predict that autonomous vehicles will be preferred over manual driving, and about 90% of vehicles will have AI-enabled systems in place by the end of this decade. From manufacturing and designing to service and maintenance and sales and marketing, the future of AI in the automotive industry is influential. It will play a role in making vehicles smarter, safer, and more efficient.

According to Statista, the global automotive intelligence market was sized at $26.49 billion in 2022 and it is expected to reach $74.5 billion by 2030.

global automotive intelligence market was sized at $26.49 billion in 2022

Overall, the automotive industry is on the verge of a big transformation; thanks to advancements in artificial intelligence. AI in the automobile industry is taking over the entire world, and many automakers have already made leaps and strides in designing and developing smart vehicles. The future of the automotive industry has already been automated, and it’s enabled by artificial intelligence. AI is set to deliver massive transformation, redefining the industry and taking it to heights.

Deployment of AI in the automotive industry from 2020 to 2030

Embrace the power of AI in your Automotive Business with Appinventiv

The inclusion of AI in the automobile industry has been a game-changer. It helps automobile companies design and build new prototypes, increase supply chain efficiency, reinforce drivers’ safety on the road, improve passenger experience, assist in driving more efficiently, and enable predictive maintenance of both factory equipment and vehicles on the road. It is high time for the automotive industry to give AI a front seat in the business and leverage this technology to augment the possibilities and reach their ultimate business goals.

So, are you looking for innovation-driven AI development services to make your automobile business smart and efficient? Get in touch with the expert team of AI developers at Appinventiv. We are a leading automotive software development company, providing state-of-the-art generative AI development services worldwide, including in Asia, India, Europe, UAE, and the US.

No matter what your plan or project requirements are, our top-notch custom AI solutions will perfectly integrate with your business goals. Get in touch with us now to discover how we can help you integrate AI in the automotive industry.

FAQs

Q. What is AI in the automotive industry?

A. AI refers to machines’ ability to do various tasks, such as learning, reasoning, ideating, designing, decision-making, etc., that typically require human intervention. AI in the automotive industry is used to improve vehicle performance, driver safety, passenger experience, and so on through data analysis and making real-time decisions based on that data.

AI in the automotive industry encloses a broad range of technologies, such as computer vision, machine learning, NPL, speech analytics and robotics. These technologies help develop self-driving cars, advanced driver assistance systems, personal assistance, etc. Additionally, AI helps optimize production processes, reduce costs, improve supply chain management, and make the automotive industry more efficient.

Q. How is AI impacting the automotive industry?

A. The impact of AI in the automotive industry can be witnessed in the form of improved vehicle safety, performance, and efficiency. It helps visualize the concept of autonomous driving, electric vehicles, and personalized in-car experiences, among many other applications. Also, AI in the automobile industry helps optimize manufacturing processes, reduce costs, and improve supply chain management. In simple terms, AI is transforming the automotive industry, making it safer, smarter, more sustainable, and more efficient.

Q. What is the future of AI in vehicles?

A. The future of AI in vehicles is highly influential and can potentially transform the automotive industry. In the future, AI-based solutions will add more value to cars, resulting in further advancements in the development of autonomous driving, maximizing production capacity, accelerating production, and gathering data for improved road safety and passenger experience. As AI technology continues to evolve, it is set to bring a huge revolution in the entire automotive industry by disrupting traditional ways of transportation and enabling new business models.