Numerous car companies are trying their hands at digital assistants, but Mini is planning something more... characterful. The automaker has unveiled Spike, an English Bulldog-inspired helper coming to future Mini models. While his exact functionality is still unknown, he'll walk you through the "operating concept" of a given car and is meant to foster an "emotional connection." We suspect this pup won't seem so loveable when you're in a hurry, but it might beat the personality-free assistants from other makes. Spike will make his debut in the cabin of the Mini Concept Aceman at the Shanghai auto show beginning April 18th.

Soon, your car may be able to automatically spot that mineshaft of a pothole in the road that never seems to get fixed. Now, artificial intelligence can allow cars to spot potholes on the road ahead thanks to researchers at the Korea Institute of Civil Engineering and Building Technology. "Poor road-surface conditions pose a significant safety risk to vehicle operation, especially in the case of autonomous vehicles," the researchers wrote in their study, published in Electronics. A pothole could cause the driver -- or the self-driving car -- to lose control of the vehicle, resulting in injury or death. This means that road maintenance -- which is already subpar in many communities -- will become even more crucial in the future, especially if we ever want self-driving cars and trucks dominating the streets.

Volvo announced today that its next-generation Sensus infotainment system, which will run on Android, will have the Google Assistant, Google Maps and the Google Play Store embedded within it. Adding Google Maps has some obvious benefits for drivers while the Google Assistant will give users voice control over in-car functions like air conditioning as well as music and messaging. "Bringing Google services into Volvo cars will accelerate innovation in connectivity and boost our development in applications and connected services," Henrik Green, Volvo senior VP of research and development, said in a statement. "Soon, Volvo drivers will have direct access to thousands of in-car apps that make daily life easier and the connected in-car experience more enjoyable." Google and Volvo announced last year that they were teaming up to build Android into future cars.

Self-driving cars are already asking people to put AI systems in control of their vehicles. Now, Mitsubishi wants to rid its new cars of one of the last relics of the past: the rear-view mirror. The automotive manufacturer announced this week that it has developed the industry's highest performing automotive camera technology. When installed on a vehicle, it can detect objects up to 100 meters (328 feet) away, and boosts object detection accuracy from a previous 14 percent to 81 percent. Mitsubishi explains their new cameras utilize their own Maisart AI, which has the ability to accurately differentiate between pedestrians, cars, and motorcycles.

Although many people expect the car of the future to be a self-driving car, there is much more to the digitalization of cars. The concept of a connected car has already taken root in the minds of the experts in the automobile industry. The Internet of Things (IoT), 5G, and M2M technologies will have a profound impact on the automobile industry in the near future. The GSMA predicts the annual sales of connections for automobiles will reach 91-million units by 2025! The next couple of years will integrate several new technologies to enhance the quality of driving and the experience of passengers traveling in the car.

Nissan is developing a way to help drivers execute evasive maneuvers faster using brain wave technology, the company announced today. By recognizing whether a driver is about to brake, swerve, or perform some other evasive move, Nissan says that this "brain-to-vehicle" interface could help a car with semi-autonomous capabilities begin those actions between 0.2 and 0.5 seconds faster. The company plans to put this technology on display next week at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Nevada. But details are otherwise light. "It's something that's being shown in a relatively early phase, and is not yet close to implementation," a representative for Nissan said via email.

Most automakers are figuring out how to take the "driver" out of driving, but Nissan is using tech to make it more fun. It's researching what it calls "brain-to-vehicle" (B2V) tech that can read your brainwaves and figure out what you're going to do next. After the driver puts on a skullcap device that can measure brain activity, an AI system can then predict if you're going to turn or brake, and initiate the action 0.2 to 0.5 seconds before you react. "When most people think about autonomous driving, they have a very impersonal vision of the future, where humans relinquish control to the machines," said Nissan VP Daniele Schillaci. "B2V technology does the opposite, by using signals from their own brain to make the drive even more exciting and enjoyable."

Apple just had its annual developer's conference or WWDC on June 5, and as usual, CEO Tim Cook gave a keynote where he announced the tech giant's latest improvements in its MacOS and iOS systems. But perhaps the greatest of these software developments wasn't revealed on the WWDC stage. Instead, in an interview with Bloomberg Television, Cook discussed one of Apple's most intriguing work -- the so-called Project Titan, its secret car project. Well, it isn't exactly going to be a car just yet -- or maybe never? What we do know is that Apple is working on its own autonomous driving software, which Cook revealed in the interview with Bloomberg.

Here is a blog post featuring a great article of Autonomous cars. Its written by Karen Smith at Goatsofftheroad. Autonomous cars are on the urge of transforming future of automobile industry. Autonomous cars are self-driving cars with having features like tracking the position of large objects at long range, detecting the edge of the road and lane markings and detect the nearby vehicles while parking with the help of radars and ultrasonic sensors. Radars play a vital role while running an autonomous vehicle making use of sophisticated algorithms and GPS systems.

Japanese auto major Nissan is working on autonomous driving cars and to that effect, it will use the Seamless Autonomous Mobility (SAM) system – derived from NASA-sourced technology – that utilises artificial intelligence to determine if human intervention is required in unusual and unexpected situations. Nissan believes NASA's technology built for the Mars Rover will help control fleets of autonomous vehicles. SAM is adapted from NASA's Visual Environment for Remote Virtual Exploration (VERVE), designed to supervise interplanetary robots like the Mars rovers. NASA scientists may use the system to chart out safe driving paths on other planets. Nissan uses the example of a police officer using hand signals at a traffic junction.