How artificial intelligence could design your next car

Artificial intelligence is set to take a key role in the design and engineering of new cars, dreaming up lighter, stronger and more complex structures than humans can envision. Just as computing power exceeds the mathematical capability of the human mind, smart software capable of innovation and problem solving is set to push product development into new territory. Hack Rod, a team of designers, engineers, geeks, Hollywood insiders and stunt drivers is working on a way to harness the power of artificial intelligence in tandem with powerful design software produced by Autodesk. Experimenting with connectivity surrounding the emerging "internet of things", the Hack Rod crew built a basic sports car, fitted it with dozens of race car-like sensors, and set about testing, racing and crashing the vehicle. They then fed millions of data points into a computer powered by NVidia processors capable of machine learning, and asked Autodesk's "Dreamcatcher" software to take that information and use it to design a better car.