This Autonomous AI Inspector Scans Your Car to Detect Possible Problems

There is news about smart cars and AI technologies every day, but it is the first time that a smart mechanic is being talked about. Recently, an Israeli security and inspection company UVeye had developed an autonomous AI inspector for smart cars.

While computer vision technology was already in use in high-security places like airports to detect problems automatically, it seems to be the first system designed for commercial cars. With a system that only requires your vehicle to pass through a camera and link to detect possible threats and damage, it even seems too easy to be real.

Credit: UVeye Media Kit

How does the new AI mechanic work?

For now, the first step is to take a quick photo scan of the vehicle while it is passing over to detect possible problems with computer vision. As the product is for smart cars that can already detect some problems on their own with sensors, the second step is to check these sensors. The final step is to check physical data such as the company’s tire modules that check for tire failures. All in all, it is a quick look at your machine by a machine to detect as many things quick as possible.

As the company’s argument goes according to their press release,

as autonomous vehicles become an imminent reality, it is all the more crucial to rethink vehicle safety and inspection systems. If, in the future, humans do not drive cars, who will be able to determine whether there are problems with the tires, brakes, or ignition systems?

Just like the ongoing problems resulting from usage, the company says that in a time where the car itself cannot detect physical problems like something getting stuck in-between, their AI named “Helios”, may be able to help.

Credit: UVeye Media Kit

There are some concerns

While it is a big leap in the industry to be able to save this much time and money with this AI mechanic, some people are concerned with its effectiveness of it. Some mechanics procedures involve checking physically, like hitting and looking for a sound, opening, and closing, exchanging the parts inside. It is not known how you can detect these kinds of problems with computer vision only. However, with the development of smart cars, maybe these kinds of inside-check-ups will be automated through the sensors of the car itself, who knows?

In the end, we are living in an era where both human and machine is getting smarter on both ends. The line between the creator and the creation is getting really small if I would say so, just like my last article on “AlphaCode”, a code that writes code.

It’s only a question of what we would do when both ends, the car, and the mechanic, become automated.