IAA Mobility 2023: Cognizant Mobility gives a glimpse into the future of AI-based driving assistance and modern electrics/electronics solutions

Cognizant Mobility demonstrates the Very Enhanced Road Assistant, a new AI system for smart cars based on recent breakthroughs in deep learning and generative AI, for the first time using the autonomous HOLON mover as an example

Cognizant Mobility will debut the Very Enhanced Road Assistant at IAA Mobility (5th-8th of September 2023 in Munich). The new artificial intelligence (AI)-based system uses the example of the autonomous mover developed in cooperation with the BENTELER spin-off HOLON to show what driving assistance of the future could look like. The AI is planned to be used in particular in fully autonomous public transport or people movers and close the gap created by the loss of real contacts. For example, the Very Enhanced Road Assistant is able to provide driving information and interact with passengers personally and individually. In the future, the system will also be able to recognise medical emergency situations and thus ensure greater passenger safety.

The HOLON Mover addresses the social megatrends of urbanisation and climate change and is the world's first autonomous mover (Level 4) to be developed according to automotive standards. Cognizant Mobility is already a part of the development of the advanced electrical/electronic architecture and connectivity solutions. The new AI system is expected to help the industry, and especially the people mover and smart car sectors, to develop further in the coming years.

"The Very Enhanced Road Assistant has the potential to increase the acceptance of autonomous mobility solutions. The system not only answers questions about the journey and responds to individuals in a very personalised way, but also brings safety to passengers through the multimodal reasoning approach and presence in the real world that we have developed," says Jörg Ohlsen, Managing Director at Cognizant Mobility. The human way of speaking also takes away users' fear of autonomous mobility solutions, which are still off-putting for many people due to their "human-lessness".

"However, the AI is not only suitable for public transport or passenger transport systems. For example, it can be used in vehicles of all kinds as an intelligent driving companion and realise a wealth of business cases - from sales to after sales. We are on the verge of a technical revolution in which the AI avatar will ultimately merge with the vehicle to form a single entity," says Daniel Isemann, Head of Data Science & AI at Cognizant Mobility, who is responsible with his team for the development of the Very Enhanced Road Assistant.

System integration across tool boundaries

LLM (Large Language Model) is the technical buzzword that enables AI to understand and generate natural languages at a very high level. To this end, Cognizant Mobility successfully developed bridge components for the integration of speech-to-text, 3D-generated avatars, language models (LLMs), vector converters for the preparation of web-based knowledge and vectorised databases for rapid information search. In addition to language empowerment, the system is able to interact with passengers through other modalities. Multiple cameras enable proactive passenger engagement and information scanning to better address travel context in conversation. The Very Enhanced Road Assistant builds a connection with its counterpart over time. To do this, logical thinking has been significantly improved by combining audio, video and scanning technologies. The AI is able to adapt its response to the non-verbal communication of its conversation partners.

Design decision against "hallucination"

A major challenge in the development of the AI system was to feed it with the right amount of curated contextual information and knowledge so that the system's answers are resilient for the intended scenarios and do not fall into the realm of the "AI hallucinations" that are widespread today. Answers may sound plausible, but they are not backed up by facts. For this, the AI relies on a vector database that is specially maintained for the use case and on so-called prompt engineering, which helps the language model to take the use case context into account as well as possible and to largely avoid hallucinations in the area of the intended core competences of the system.

HOLON - the ideal mover for an autonomous future

At the IAA Mobility 2023, the Very Enhanced Road Assistant will be presented using the example of the HOLON Mover, which is being developed by the BENTLER spin-off in cooperation with Cognizant Mobility. Cognizant Mobility supports the design and architecture development of the Mover in the areas of electrics/electronics and connected car. The self-driving system uses various sensor technologies such as laser scanning (LiDAR), radar and cameras. HOLON addresses the social megatrends of urbanisation and climate change and is the world's first autonomous mover (Level 4) to be developed according to automotive standards. In the future, the mover will be used for on-demand services such as ride-pooling, ride-hailing and normal scheduled services. A pilot project with the Hamburg Hochbahn is already planned.

Contact

Michael Pollner, Business & Innovations
+49 151 44 15 2348
Michael.Pollner@cognizant-mobility.com

About Cognizant Mobility

If you want the future, you need forward-looking ideas. And a partner who understands them right from the start. 

Cognizant Mobility is a solution provider for complex electronic and IT systems in trend topics that move the market. Whether software development and operation, connectivity solutions, E/E complete vehicle development, data analytics, cyber security, system integration or testing - with knowledge and experience we provide our customers with the necessary impetus and technical know-how to make the vision of the Software Defined Vehicle a reality.

About HOLON

HOLON GmbH is a legally independent entity and a subsidiary of BENTELER Automotive. With profound know-how in automotive technology and industrialisation as well as the continuous implementation of new technologies for electric mobility, the company develops autonomous movers for the vehicle market of the future. For this purpose, HOLON works together with technology companies, local public transport companies and mobility-as-a-service providers.

www.driveholon.com