Cognitive and the Internet of Things. For IBM they are inseparable – and artificial intelligence indeed is key in a lof of advanced IoT projects. It also seems so for BMW Group. IBM’s global HQ for Watson IoT in Munich (Germany) will soon house a team of BMW Group researchers.
The German car maker has announced a collaboration with IBM to see how Watson could improve the personalization of the driver experience and explore the possibilities to create more intuitive driver support systems and intelligent assistant functions for the drivers of its future cars, leveraging the Internet of Things.
Earlier in 2016, IBM had announced that it would invest $200 million in its Watson Internet of Things center in the Bavarian capital where BMW is also headquartered.
Building prototype solutions in Bavaria as part of IBM’s serious IoT ambitions
The collaboration between both companies is one the first whereby a team is collocated inside IBM’s Munich ‘collaborative innovation laboratories’ building whereby such collaborative laboratories got a new name. You guessed it: collaboratories.
IBM is serious – and has to be serious – about bringing its Watson to the Internet of Things. The previously mentioned $200 million investment is part of a global $3 billion investment to achieve just that. The combination of artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things is an obvious one as we essentially speak about data and analysis in a context of innovation.
On top of IBM emphasizing its Watson cognitive computing and machine learning capabilities, the BMW Group can showcase its BMW i8 hybrid sports cars. Four of them will be located in the IBM building.
Among the planned projects leveraging Watson IoT and BMW’s cars, are prototype solutions that aim to show the capabilities of Watson in creating conversational capabilities between cars and drivers.
In a report by the IBM Institute for Business Value, entitled ‘A new relationship – people and cars’, IBM states that 54 percent of consumers want cars to learn about them in order to automate and personalize their driving experience.
