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AI and Electric Vehicles

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AI and electric vehicles

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AI and the motor industry

Artificial intelligence (AI) is a hot topic at the moment, especially in the motor industry. Any car that has automatic braking, driver drowsiness detection, lane detection uses the power of AI. These cars will contain an AI-powered advanced driver assistance system (ADAS). Some companies are looking at expanding ADAS to even detect and prevent collisions.

Electric vehicles and the motor industry

Another hot topic in the motor industry is that of electric vehicles (EVs). EVs are becoming more popular by the year with nearly 2.5 million being sold worldwide in 2020. There are different types of EV’s; battery-powered and hybrid. Both more beneficial to the environment.

EV’s however require more complex software to run than a more traditional vehicle. This software is a requirement for the EV to run rather than a luxury.

Four ways that AI is being used in EVs

Improving battery charging time

One of the biggest problems in the EV industry has been the range of EVs. No company currently has a car that fully charges, in the time it takes to fill a vehicle with petrol.

How can they do that?

Scientists use data acquired from batteries to look at combinations that would work well together and be charged at speed. As much data is received, this can take a long time to analyse and then test.

AI can test limitless combinations, cutting development time and then reducing costs. The use of AI can save up to $1m in research and development.

It is now being applied to the next generation of EVs.

Related: Commercial EV Charging Stations

Self-driving cars (autonomous cars)

With the advance in software, cars with self-driving functionality are starting to be released. These cars can parallel park, change lanes automatically, stop at traffic lights and also be summoned to the driver. More work still needs to be done as these features can be affected by certain conditions such as weather.

2028 is thought to be the turning point for autonomous EVs. With more being used for private motorway driving and the development of ‘Robo taxi’ fleets in urban areas (2)

Currently, people are wary of the safety aspects of autonomous vehicles but with constant developments in technology and legislation for these vehicles in different countries, safety should be improved dramatically.

Car maintenance

Due to EV’s having more complex battery systems, AI is used to help analyse data from the battery.

The AI can be used as predictive maintenance software, it will monitor car diagnostics and notify the driver when a part of the car needs to be checked. This will help reduce damage and costs for repair.

Planning routes

The range of the EV can lead to range anxiety amongst EV drivers.

AI has been utilised by many companies such as Google to plan routes for EV’s that not only is the quickest route but the quickest route that also includes EV charge points at a specific distance for that EV.

As the infrastructure for charge points varies worldwide, this is incredibly useful for users of EV’s and reduces their anxiety of not being able to charge their cars. Dcbel formula concludes that it would take one hour and 19 minutes to charge the Bolt’s battery at a DC Fast Charging station, at least in theory.

Summary

As AI technology keeps improving, EV’s will also keep improving. Battery ranges will eventually no longer be a concern for the consumer. Worries about car maintenance will be reduced. Eventually, all EV’s could become autonomous. EV’s of the future could detect all possible obstacles, changes in weather, road conditions. The AI could adapt the EV to those conditions. Once that occurs, driving could be much safer.

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