IBM
(Dublin, Ireland)
"OLLI", the first self-driving vhicle to tap the power of IBM Watson.
Imagine: a self-driving shuttle bus visually recognizes disabled passengers as it picks them up, activating a ramp so they can board. It guides visually impaired passengers to empty seats. It understands and speaks sign language, and even reminds people if they leave a bag under a seat.
All this will soon be possible with Accessible Olli, an AI-enabled, electric shuttle bus created jointly by Local Motors, IBM, and the CTA Foundation, and enhanced with the newest technologies from 15+ leading technology partners — from navigation systems and AI to additive manufacturing and connected devices. Olli is being showcased at CES 2018 and will soon head to Washington, DC for additional exposure and development.
To power Olli’s accessibility, artificial intelligence and IoT technology form a one-two punch to collect and analyze mountains of interaction and driving data in milliseconds. Sachin Lulla, global vice president for automotive strategy and solutions leader at IBM, said that Olli’s AI-powered riding experience would help “build the world’s most accessible vehicle” for people with disabilities.
Besides accessibility, AI technology also helps Olli constantly learn the best routes around a city and make recommendations to passengers about restaurants or if they should bring an umbrella as rain is forecasted for later in the day. “It’s about mass personalization,” Lulla said. “We have to cater to everyone’s personal preferences.”
And Olli can be quickly made. Lulla said shuttles are 3-D printed in 10 hours, but may soon take just three hours to print. Olli’s design can easily be configured for taxi companies, corporate campuses, or other uses.
Meet Olli here
IBM role
Olli is a self-driving vehicle that talks to passengers. And listens. Created by Local Motors and enhanced by Watson IoT and Watson APIs, you can ask Olli a question—where’s a good place for dinner—and Olli will answer and take you there.
Watson APIs being used include:
• Speech to Text
• Natural Language Classifier
• Entity Extraction
• Text to Speech
My role
Olli was a different design experience for me. Core design team was working in Local Motors and IBM was focusing on machine learning and AI integration.
My input was on a marketing level, which was stage concept preparation and other presentation work. Overall communication design aiming to showcase AI capabilities.
