Jaguar Land Rover has begun showcasing its self-learning car technology.
The tech bods Jaguar Land Rover have been trying to turn cars into a personal assistant. They’ve invented a system that lets your car learn about and proactively assist you as you go about your day-to-day life so you can better concentrate on the road ahead.
From your behaviour, driving style, seat preferences and routine calendar dates, to the weather, congestion and time of day, the ‘smart assistant’ can proactively prepare for your arrival to the car, preempt your entertainment preferences and find the least congested route to your destination, via your other destinations such as your child’s school if necessary.
Jaguar’s personal assistant technology will use the car’s sensors and keyless entry systems to recognise the driver before they get into the car, adjusting the seat, mirrors and temperature of the cabin to their preferences through learned behaviours. JLR reckon it takes the algorithm a couple of weeks to learn, less if the routine is more frequent.
Once inside the cabin, the system will detect who is in the car with you by analysing the number of smartphones tethered via Bluetooth, or by analysing the places you visit (e.g. dropping little “Jamie” off to school before heading to your wife’s workplace and then the golf course).
It can therefore remind you that Jamie needs her gym kit, and will play her music playlist until she’s safely to school. If there’s a problem on the route, it’ll have already warned you about it and suggested you leave a bit earlier.
Once Jamie’s out of the car, it’ll switch to your personal entertainment preferences.
JLR emphasises that the driver doesn’t need to do anything extra. And if the car doesn’t know or is still learning, nothing really changes. Dr. Wolfgang Epple, director for research and technology at Jaguar Land Rover, says: “Up until now most self-learning car research has only focussed on traffic or navigation predication. We want to take this a significant step further and enhance driving pleasure.”
Interestingly, JLR is also looking at emotion and mood. The company is particularly keen for the car to learn when the driver is tired so it can suggest alternative, less congested routes to get you home safely, while perhaps minimising any potential danger to fellow motorists.
It might all sound a little pie-in-the-sky, but JLR reckon such features could materialise in as little as six years. We shall see.
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