Computers with smarts: the wonders of cognitive technology

When you look at the car parked outside your home, do you see a four-wheel device used to get you from A to B or a cognitive data platform with a social role to play? With its full array of on-board computers, motion sensors, GPS and cameras, a car is probably the most expensive piece of kit an average person owns – and yet it spends 95 per cent of the time idle. By 2020, it is estimated that nine out of 10 cars will have internet connectivity. Why should all this capability sit untapped just because the engine is off? When harnessed to IBM's cloud-based cognitive service, a line of parked cars has the potential to gather and disseminate information and be taught to act as a "citizen helper".