Olli, a 'cute' driverless, 3D Printed, AI powered Minibus
BENGALURU: “It’s cute and efficient, but also very personal,” says Bret Greenstein, head of IBM’s Watson Internet of Things team. Olli, which hit the streets of National Harbor, Maryland this 16th, is yet to get the green signal from regulations although additional trial runs can be expected at Las Vegas and Miami.
Olli, the on demand driverless minibus capable of carrying 12 people is powered by IBM’s supercomputer to interact with commuters through the press of a button, the shuttle is 3D Printed for the most part. The driving is controlled by a system developed by Local Motors in conjunction with several software and tech vendors. The project marks IBMs first venture in fully autonomous driving although it has worked with other automotive partners on technology solutions. The vehicle relies on more than 30 sensors and streams of data from IBM's cloud. Olli is also designed to offer recommendations based on personal preferences of the passengers.
Being part of a fleet management system with a central operations unit, Olli can serve corporate and municipal transportation needs. As a matter of fact, Local Motors has already stated that Las Vegas has purchased two of the vehicles and Miami-Dade County is exploring a pilot program in which several autonomous vehicles would be used to transport people around the Florida region. It is through a dedicated app interface that customers can make payments and book rides.
"The technology has been ready—fielding it is what has been hard," says founder and chief executive John Rogers. “We hope to be able to print this vehicle in about 10 hours and assemble it in another hour,” he added.
Passengers can talk to Olli just as they would be able to communicate with a driver. “Passengers need to know that the vehicle is indeed functioning correctly, operating safely,” says Raj Rajkumar, a computer engineer at Carnegie Mellon University who works on autonomous vehicles.
Greenstein said IBM sees Olli as "the first complete solution" for autonomous driving, and makes use of Watson's cognitive computing power. "A vehicle that understands human language, where you can walk in and say, 'I'd like to get to work,' that lets you as a passenger relax and enjoy your journey," he added.
Read Also:
Internet To Enable Regional Languages To Engage More Users In India!
