The transportation url is actually starting to use Artificial Intelligence (AI) in mission critical tasks (for instance, self driving automobiles carrying passengers) in which the reliability as well as security of an AI system will be below question coming from the common public. Major issues of the transportation market as capability troubles, environmental pollution, reliability, safety, and wasted energy are actually providing ample opportunity (and potential for higher ROI) for AI innovation. For the benefit of this post,' transportation' is going to include all systems which move luggage as well as folks. We explore each of the applications and the future of their technology roadmap in more detail below. The compatibility of AI to transportation apps is actually a relatively natural match.

On an isolated stretch of industrial flatland outside Knoxville, Tenn., a minibus is taking shape in a car factory unlike any other. The space is small, the size of a supermarket, and all but tool-free. Instead, perched in the center is the world's largest 3D printer, a gangly 10-by-40-foot behemoth with a steel-gray exterior, thick columnar footings, and derrick-like roof beams to true its frame. When the print heads are in motion, the equipment emits little more than a whisper, dexterously cutting sharp angles and rounded edges. Programmers on laptops and quality-control experts with tablets mill around, inputting design changes and fine-tuning the minibus's sensor instructions. Beyond the assembly room lies a kind of alchemist's playground, where young staffers with advanced degrees in materials science and mechanical engineering synthesize nanopolymers or test exotic particles for strength or thermal and electrical conductivity. The minibus, named Olli, is the latest offbeat product from Local Motors Inc., an 11-year-old startup.

Either the robots are coming to send us all to the unemployment line of a mechanized dystopian future, or their benevolent introduction will bring about new, BETTER jobs that we have yet to even dream of. This false binary gets all the press and riles up the zeitgeist but most of us will see something closer to the middle. According to "What to Do When the Machines Do Everything" about 75% of current jobs will not only stick around, but be enhanced by artificial intelligence. Such a rising tide benefits us all, but has considerable positive implications for 56 million people in America that identify with a disability of some sort. While most use cases for AI center around improving efficiencies or freeing us up from daily drudgery, some innovators have turned their attention to services and systems that help enable the disabled to enjoy more active lives.

The annual Cannes Lion Festival of Creativity brings together worldwide leaders in the creative communications world. It's the foremost event for ad agencies and for globally recognized consumer brands to hear about new ideas on the cutting edge of technology, imagination and virtualization, like Watson. Rather than the typical summary presentations of strategic direction and top-to-top meetings that are the norm at Cannes, IBM decided to show clients just what Watson can do. IBM's presence at Cannes includes IBM iX, which is now firmly positioned among the leaders in Gartner's Magic Quadrant for Digital Marketing Agencies. You can also see some of IBM iX's great work on their YouTube channel.

IBM's foray into autonomous car design focuses on people with disabilities. The technology company last year unveiled its Watson-powered self-driving shuttle, called Olli. Sachin Lulla, global vice president for automotive strategy and solutions leader at IBM, said it's an example of the company's focus on providing personalized experiences for those who may otherwise struggle to drive. "This was a big experiment for IBM," he said Wednesday at the CAR Management Briefing Seminars. "We wanted to build the world's most accessible vehicle."

Thinking computers no longer belong in fiction. For the past few years, people have witnessed the AI revolution unfold – from virtual assistants that can sing you'happy birthday' to AI-infused fitness coaches that provide you with real-time encouragement. With industry leaders like Amazon, Microsoft, Facebook and IBM leading the charge, consumers and businesses alike expect the revolution to pick up the pace. Today, one of the most promising AI solutions available in the market would be IBM Watson. Named after IBM's first CEO, Watson is a question answering system that incorporates natural language processing, knowledge representation, automated reasoning, and machine learning.

It's been 15 years since a degenerative eye disease forced Erich Manser to stop driving. Today, he commutes to his job as an accessibility consultant via commuter trains and city buses, but he has trouble locating empty seats sometimes and must ask strangers for guidance. A step toward solving Manser's predicament could arrive as soon as next year. Manser's employer, IBM, and an independent carmaker called Local Motors are developing a self-driving, electric shuttle bus that combines artificial intelligence, augmented reality, and smartphone apps to serve people with vision, hearing, physical, and cognitive disabilities. The buses, dubbed "Olli," are designed to transport people around neighborhoods at speeds below 35 miles per hour and will be sold to cities, counties, airports, companies, and universities.

Want to receive a weekly deep dive into all things auto, transportation, & logistics tech? Click here to subscribe to our auto tech newsletter. Momentum in auto tech is at an all-time high, with investors funding private startups in the field at a record pace. Of course, much of the buzz has revolved around autonomous driving software, with startups like Zoox seeing $200M funding rounds, tech corporates looking to capitalize, and major automakers working feverishly to catch up. Validating the reliability of fully autonomous vehicles will be no small feat, with RAND estimating that tens or hundreds of billions of test miles might have to be driven to properly gauge their safety. While many players are meeting this challenge head-on, a number of other startups are also developing autonomous tech for more focused applications.

When many people think about IBM Watson, they remember the computer that won Jeopardy in 2011. It was cool, but of dubious value in the Real World. Watson has gone from a game show novelty to a tool in use in many industries, from medicine to cooking. At last week's World of Watson conference in Las Vegas, over 17,000 attendees learned how far the technology of cognitive computing has come. In fact, IBM's chairman, president, and CEO Ginni Rometty pointed out that the current market for cognitive technologies has grown 16X in the past four years, to US$32 billion, and is expected to hit US$2 trillion by 2025.

Olli debuted this June and was born out of the 2015 Urban Mobility Challenge in Berlin. Contest winner and designer Edgar Sarmiento developed the concept for Olli, which can travel on pre-determined or on-demand routes based on rider needs. The vehicle can only reach speeds of 25 mph and cannot travel on highways, but is designed to fill transit gaps in communities including shuttling travelers at airports, giving students a lift at college campuses and dropping off theme park attendees at attractions, said Amy Rushia, senior director of marketing at Local Motors. Local Motors recently sold some Olli units in Copenhagen and plans to announce its U.S. debut in next few months. Today, Olli is parked at the Auto Show technology pavilion entrance, but on Wednesday it will shuttle Local Motors CEO Jay Rogers to his keynote address.