AI will reshape the human-vehicle interaction experience and accelerate the intelligentization of the industry

Automatic obstacle avoidance is one of the selling points of smart cars, but who would have thought that a car would brake suddenly to avoid a plastic bag? At this point, it seems that it is not so smart anymore and needs to evolve to a higher level of intelligence.

However, in the current wave of informatization, technologies such as the Internet of Things, cloud computing, big data, artificial intelligence (AI) and mobile Internet are penetrating into traditional industries, and the electrification and interconnection of automobiles have brought new developments to vehicle intelligence. The development of smart cars can promote the application of new technologies and is conducive to the development of industries such as chips, software, information communications and data services based on automobiles.

China also attaches great importance to the development of smart cars. As early as 2020, the National Development and Reform Commission and 11 other departments jointly issued the "Smart Car Innovation and Development Strategy" , proposing to achieve large-scale production of conditional autonomous driving smart cars by 2025, and to achieve the market application of highly autonomous driving smart cars in specific environments. Looking forward to 2035 to 2050, China's standard smart car system will be fully built and more perfect. With the release of the "top-level design" of smart cars, the development pace of the smart car industry will be further accelerated.

The so-called intelligent automobile refers to the installation of intelligent cameras, laser radars and other sensing terminals in automobiles, coupled with intelligent operating systems and artificial intelligence chips, to achieve data collection, data interconnection and autonomous driving. With the development and integration of technologies, especially the development of communication technology and AI, the development speed of intelligent automobiles has been accelerated. Intelligent automobiles will eventually transform from "car-centric" transportation tools to "people-centric" mobile spaces, building a new ecosystem for automobiles and transportation services.

Autonomous driving still has a long way to go. However, unlike the difficult autonomous driving, the development of intelligent driving cockpits is relatively simpler, product iteration is faster, and the design concept is clearer, so related companies can quickly develop intelligent driving cockpits that match autonomous driving. Advanced cockpit concepts can now be put on mass-produced cars at this stage to improve passenger comfort and safety, which is one of the reasons why many companies are keen on developing intelligent driving cockpits recently.

The development of smart cockpits has driven smart cars to transform from a car-centric model to a consumer-centric mobile travel model. In the ever-changing industry needs, new functions are given to products by improving the performance of related chips, redefining the relationship between people and cars in a "software and hardware decoupled but collaborative" model. The smart cockpit system transforms cars from ordinary travel tools into an ecosystem that integrates travel, life, and entertainment.

Human-vehicle interaction, from "passive" to "active"

The interaction method that people are already very familiar with is called "passive interaction". Its logic is that people tell the machine to perform actions, and then the output results are fed back to people. However, this kind of interaction is not suitable for use in the car. When people move, the machine moves, which will cause people's eyes to frequently move away from the road, posing a safety hazard and being inefficient.

Imagine a possibility where the car "actively" provides services when people need them, instead of people fumbling around looking for them while driving. This approach is called "active interaction." Active interaction is when the machine actively outputs execution results or suggestions to people. At the same time, the machine can actively input information from the outside world and then make decisions, instead of people inputting instructions and then executing them.

In fact, a car that can realize autonomous driving must not only communicate with the people inside the car, but also actively communicate with pedestrians, cars and road conditions outside the car. The external environment is affected by distance, noise, temperature, humidity, wind speed, etc., and the results obtained will also be different, which is also one of the challenges of the industry.

The industry is entering a new landscape, who will benefit?

Following the smart phone, the smart car has made a good integration of intelligent technology, Internet and automotive products, and may become the next mobile Internet terminal in the future. Smart cars build a set of hardware sensor systems in the cockpit as the senses of the car, and use AI recognition technology to enable the car to have the ability to listen, speak, see and think similar to humans. Studies have found that in driving scenarios, people's hearing is relatively less occupied, so voice is the main way to output information, and the visual interface is used as an auxiliary to improve the efficiency of information transmission.

In the future, the competition pattern of the smart car industry will shift from vehicle companies to companies that can integrate travel ecosystem capabilities, driving the automotive industry from a single product quality and performance competition to a competition that integrates industrial resources and service systems. The industry chain of smart cars can be roughly divided into three categories: the first category is the industry chain of the Internet of Vehicles, including upstream components and chip companies, midstream automobile manufacturers, equipment manufacturers and software platform developers, and downstream system integrators, communication service providers, platform operators and content providers; the second category is advanced sensor manufacturers, which have the ability to develop and supply advanced machine vision technology, including laser ranging systems, infrared cameras and radars; the third category is automotive electronics suppliers, which can provide intelligent driving technology research and development and integrated supply.

Therefore, manufacturers with the ability to provide core components for intelligent driving, host manufacturers that actively upgrade their technology to transform towards intelligence, and cross-border Internet manufacturers with the ability to develop algorithm data layers will become potential stocks in the field of smart cars.

As for the field of smart cars, distributors, as an important link in the industrial chain, will have more room to display their strengths. Among them, Avnet is a company with relevant layout. As a world-renowned distributor, Avnet can provide design chain, supply chain and services covering the entire life cycle of products. Compared with any single device manufacturer, its integration ability is the magic weapon for success. This has also attracted more manufacturers of peripheral components to ask Avnet to consider using their products in the design of solutions. In order to be closer to market demand, Avnet has also restructured its automotive business department, increased investment in professional personnel and technical research and development, and customized solutions based on customer needs, and carried out in-depth cooperation with more manufacturers and third parties. In the future, Avnet will be active in the automotive field with a new image as a total solution provider.

A people-centric ecosystem and a gradually transparent consumer experience

The mobile and social consumer revolution has brought radical transparency to the customer experience. The quality of a company's brand is determined more by the actual experience it provides than by marketing expenditures, and customer experience is the number one driver of purchase. As the pace of change accelerates, the prospects of companies that are not customer-centric will become increasingly bleak. Companies must understand, measure and improve every aspect of experience behavior in order to improve their competitiveness, because the cost of failure is too high.

The development of digital and mobile technologies has increased the amount, variety and complexity of customer experience data. In addition, social media platforms have amplified the impact of both positive and negative experiences of enterprises, "increasing" the experience economy of enterprises, making experience management the key to driving corporate success. In the future, the development of car companies will no longer be just about the practicality and durability of cars, but also about being a mobile Internet terminal supplier that integrates safety, practicality, beauty, comfort, entertainment and experience.