Automotive technology has been improving incrementally for more than a century. As it’s evolved, the industry has created new materials, improved engineering and manufacturing processes, invented more capable electronics, and written ever-more sophisticated software. Together, these advancements have dramatically improved the driving experience for everyone.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is the next frontier in that evolution. And it changes the game. Previous innovations made cars faster, safer, and more efficient. AI will make them smarter. It will give them the ability to perceive, predict, learn, and adapt in real time. It will transform them into companions that anticipate your needs before you know you have them. For almost everyone, cars may become the most advanced physical manifestation of AI they’ll ever use.
I’ve been working at the vanguard of automotive technology for decades, from my work at MIT developing a semi-autonomous vehicle safety system, to my work at Tesla on both the Model X and leading the team behind Tesla Autopilot, to co-founding Aurora in 2017, the world’s first commercial, fully driverless trucking service. I joined General Motors earlier this year as Executive Vice President, Global Product and Chief Product Officer, and I’m excited about how AI will transform the next standout app: your car.
An intelligent companion
The relationship we have with our vehicles is unlike the one we have with any other technology. It’s emotional, intimate, and personal. We don’t name our phones. We don’t gratefully pat our laptops when they get us out of a tight spot. But we do with our cars. They’re a place where we feel safe, where we think and decompress. How they make us feel genuinely matters. This feeling starts with exceptional design and compelling performance. And it ends when AI turns them into intelligent companions that engage with us in more meaningful and tailored ways.
Many things drivers do today will be handled by AI tomorrow. With your permission, your car will learn your preferences for temperature, music, lighting, and driving style, and adjust them automatically before you get behind the wheel. It will learn how you prefer to drive and begin to emulate that as it takes on more of the driving task, so that you can get to the more important things you’ve wanted to do with your time.
Looking further out, should you choose to enable it, your car can handle more sophisticated tasks: reminding you to eat lunch on a busy day, nudging you when it’s time to take your kids to soccer practice given traffic conditions, or keeping your vehicle in top shape by predicting and proactively addressing maintenance needs. The bottom line: your car will be capable of doing more for you tomorrow than it does today.
The overall effect will be to simplify and enhance the driving experience. And because your car can update its software over-the-air it will get better, smarter and more useful to you over time in ways that previously might have required replacing hardware.
Extending autonomy for all
AI is a core enabler of our vehicles, giving drivers their precious time back. As autonomy advances, it will make us safer, and bring independence to millions who cannot drive themselves.
GM spent years solving the fundamental problems of hands-free driving with Super Cruise, a technology now available across 23 vehicles, which has been used in over 700 million hands-free miles. Teaching a car to understand its environment and help a driver safely navigate it is extraordinarily complex. And GM has deployed it at scale.
As we move toward full autonomy, we’re introducing advanced AI that dramatically increases the scope and capability of these systems. We’re training with millions of miles worth of real-world data, millions of high-fidelity simulations, and targeted closed-course validation. Our fleet is driving across America, collecting data daily, feeding our AI foundation model with diverse real-world events.
Going beyond the vehicle
Our work on AI has implications beyond transportation. The models we’re developing in the real world have applications in areas like industrial robotics, logistics operations, and warehouse automation. Likewise, the battery technology and energy management systems we’ve developed for electric vehicles are now deployed for grid-scale energy storage, powering homes during outages, and feeding electricity back to the grid. The same computer vision systems that our cars use to identify pedestrians can help optimize manufacturing. The same models that forecast driver behavior can support robot fleets.
The AI technology being developed for cars has applications across manufacturing, logistics, energy, infrastructure and defense. But the car remains the proving ground. Embodied AI must work flawlessly, transforming the vehicle into a trusted companion and transporting our families safely and reliably wherever they need to go. The stakes are high. If we can master it here, embodied AI is a technology that will change everything.
That’s the work happening at GM today. Yes, we’re building better vehicles. But more importantly, we’re laying the foundation for AI’s standout app: a car that addresses not just our need for transportation, but provides safety, connection, and time.
The opinions expressed in Fortune.com commentary pieces are solely the views of their authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and beliefs of Fortune.
