Local Motors introduced the first self-driving vehicle dubbed “Olli”, which can reportedly “integrate the advanced cognitive computing capabilities” of IBM. The new electric autonomous vehicle was unveiled during the recent grand opening event for the new Local Motors facility in National Harbor, Maryland. Olli will be used on public roads locally in DC, and late in 2016 in Miami-Dade County and Las Vegas.
Olli, which can carry up to 12 people, is also said to be the first vehicle to utilize the cloud-based cognitive computing capability of IBM Watson IoT to analyse and learn from high volumes of transportation data, produced by more than 30 sensors embedded throughout the vehicle.
Passengers will be able to interact conversationally with Olli while travelling from point A to point B, discussing topics about how the vehicle works, where they are going, and why Olli is making specific driving decisions. Watson empowers Olli to understand and respond to passengers’ questions as they enter the vehicle, including about destinations (“Olli, can you take me downtown?”) or specific vehicle functions (“how does this feature work?” or even “are we there yet?”). Passengers can also ask for recommendations on local destinations such as popular restaurants or historical sites based on analysis of personal preferences.
Local Motors CEO and co-founder John B. Rogers said, “Olli offers a smart, safe and sustainable transportation solution that is long overdue. Olli with Watson acts as our entry into the world of self-driving vehicles, something we’ve been quietly working on with our co-creative community for the past year. We are now ready to accelerate the adoption of this technology and apply it to nearly every vehicle in our current portfolio and those in the very near future. I’m thrilled to see what our open community will do with the latest in advanced vehicle technology.”
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