Saturday, January 7, 2017

Toyota Concept-i wants to be your friend


  It will work on relationship-building with its human partner-owner

Toyota pulled the sheet off its new Concept-i in Las Vegas the day before CES opened, and we swear the car winked at us.

“Yes, it winks and blinks,” said a Toyota guy we know.
Then it did it again. And a message on the door lit up and said, “Hello.” The Concept-i was flirting. We’re calling HR.
Officially, the Concept-i is meant “… to foster a warm and friendly user experience.”
“Imagine if the vehicles of the future were friendly, and focused on you,” Toyota mused in a press release.
The idea is the Concept-i will use artificial intelligence to learn more about you and interact with you as necessary. That extends from noticing if you’re nodding off and then waking you up with a cold air-conditioned blast, to determining if you’re in a bad mood and then playing your favorite song to cheer you up.
“If you’re angry, it’ll remind you about someplace you drove in it that you liked,” the Toyota guy said.
So imagine the parking lot at Disneyland jammed with Concept-is. It would even talk to you.
“At the heart of Concept-i is a powerful AI (artificial intelligence) that learns with the driver to build a relationship that is meaningful and human,” Toyota said. “More than just driving patterns and schedules, the concept is designed to leverage multiple technologies to measure emotion, mapped against where and when the driver travels around the world. The combination gives Concept-i exceptional ability to use mobility to improve quality of life.”

The car can be either driven or set to autonomous operation. Or it could in theory -- the show car you see here needed to be pushed onto the stage. 

Read more here.
A source: autoweek.com

‘American Dreaming’ exhibit looks back at seven generations of Corvette


PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE ‘VETTES WILL BE SHOWN OFF AHEAD OF THE DETROIT AUTO SHOW


Ahead of the Detroit auto show -- and the unlikely but still possible reveal of the new Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 -- Detroit’s Scarab Club is hosting “American Dreaming, Corvette 7 Generations and Beyond.” Obviously, the event will celebrate every generation of Corvette we've seen since the car first launched in 1953. The event will also show off some surviving Corvette concept art, design students' visions of what a mid-engine Corvette could look like and vintage Corvette advertising art.
The exhibit is running from Jan. 4 to Feb. 18, but a reception will be held on Friday, Jan. 6 at 5 p.m. The reception will feature former General Motors designer Bill Porter ceremoniously signing one of the Scarab Club’s rafter beams.

If you happen to be in town for the Detroit auto show and you want to check out more than just the Cobo Center, this could be a good way to pass the time, even if you miss the reception. Friday's event, and the rest of the Scarab Club’s gallery, is free to the public. For more information about the gallery, check out the website here.


Read more here.
A source: autoweek.com