Toyota Motor Corp. has unveiled a concept car with built-in artificial intelligence and autonomous driving technology designed to interact with the driver.
The Wednesday unveiling of the Concept-i, which the automaker says can read its driver's personality and emotions, came ahead of the opening Thursday of the Consumer Electronics Show, an annual global trade show held in Las Vegas.
By learning about the driver through "chats" using its AI system and monitoring facial expressions, the car will engage in conversations on topics that suit the driver's taste and propose driving routes that include their favorite areas, the carmaker said.
The car will also flash lights if it detects a certain level of driver fatigue, play relaxing music to reduce tension and shift to autonomous driving if the driver is at risk.
Toyota is aiming to build an experimental vehicle that features some aspects of the Concept-i within the next several years and test its performance in Japan. A Toyota official said that by using artificial intelligence, cars will gain a working understanding of human beings.
At the same event, Panasonic Corp. plans to unveil an oval desktop robot equipped with artificial intelligence that will converse with people and imitate human mannerisms. The robot evolves as it learns through continuous interaction, the company said. The machine will also project video through built-in wireless features.
