Around the same time, Toyota said it would put an evolution of the Concept-i to work as an escort vehicle at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. The new LQ concept is that evolution, coming to the Tokyo Motor Show later this month. The Concept-i housed an AI assistant called Yui, the software enlivened with Disney's 12 Principles of Animation that code behaviors to make fabricated things seem real. Toyota's assertion when debuting the Concept-i was, "We don't want to make a cold, technical, dry, soulless machine." The LQ expands the methods of interaction between Yui and occupants, the aim being to personalize the driving experience and "build an emotional bond between car and driver," the development philosophy being, "Learn, Grow, Love."

In one Toyota video, shown at the Tokyo Motor Show, a woman sits on a seaside cliff, talking about her father with her car. "He sounds like a great father," says Yui, in a baritone male voice. "You're a bit like him," the woman says. Until now, Toyota, the world's second-largest car maker by vehicle sales, has kept relatively quiet about autonomous vehicles and how it plans to deal with challenges from Silicon Valley upstarts, such as Google parent Alphabet Inc.'s Waymo LLC and others. "We think this is a good way to do it," said Didier Leroy, who oversees Toyota's business planning and operations.

In brief: Toyota's Concept-i vehicles, equipped with its AI virtual assistant called Yui, are going to hit the roads for trial runs in 2020. The Japanese carmaker wants to make waves in the future of transportation. Toyota's Concept-i vehicles, equipped with its AI virtual assistant called Yui, are going to hit the roads for trial runs in 2020. The Japanese carmaker wants to make waves in the future of transportation. After unveiling a concept model for a new line of autonomous vehicles, Toyota expects to start testing these driverless cars in 2020.

Car owners form special relationships with their vehicles -- they give them names, customize them and get to know their intricacies and quirks. But what if the car could do the same for the driver? That's what Yui is for. Yui is Toyota's artificially intelligent assistant -- sort of like Toyota's version of Alexa or Siri, but wired into a car. It measures emotional responses to routes and even suggests where to go or what to do once you get into the car. "A demo video of Yui from Toyota envisions a man forming a 20-year bond with his own Yui assistant, with the AI knowing about his family, interests and personality very deeply," reports TechCrunch.

In my previous blog, I discussed my take on the future and potential of artificial intelligence, analyzing my own use of an Amazon's Alexa Voice Service technology, and dreaming up a world where artificial assistants are our closest friends, our number one source of news and entertainment, and AI supersedes existing platforms in a post-digital era. At this point you might peg me as Joaquin-Phoenix-Her-level strange, but the market for Alexa skills proves that I'm not alone. Per the Alexa skill store, the largest skill categories for Alexa include news, games, trivia and accessories, educational reference, and novelty and humor in that order. Further, the most downloaded skills include an interactive adventure called Magic Door, a skill that reads bedtime stories, and a skill called "Inspire Me." Consumers are leveraging the entertainment value of these devices rather than their utility, and industry leaders are taking note. According to Fjord, "Amazon, Microsoft, and Google are already hiring comedians and script writers in a bid to harness the human-like aspect of AI."

Levels of Driving Automation In 2014, SAE International established International Standard J3016, which created an overarching system used to define gradients in automated driving. Grading vehicles on a scale from 0 (no automation) to 5 (high automation), the standard makes a crucial distinction between Level 2 and Level 3, where the car takes on the task of monitoring the environment. The standard applies to the Concept-i specifically, as Toyota has set a goal of reaching Level 4 compliance (where the vehicle handles all driving tasks in certain modes) by 2020. That doesn't mean you're stuck with a car that does the work for you, though – these AIs can incrementally take control of the car or transfer it, so optimization goes a lot further than an on/off switch. Personalization What sets an artificial intelligence vehicle apart from simple autopilot is that AI can – and does – learn.

A few years ago, the buzz over self-driving cars evolved from science fiction to an actualized game plan for the coming years, and now, it's even closer to realization. Today's cutting-edge automobile models boast integrated artificial intelligence systems that can handle the road on their own, and also work in myriad ways to make the driving process safer and easier. We've teamed up with Toyota – makers of the Concept-i automobile that was unveiled at CES 2017 – to focus on how exactly these exceptionally smart cars will change driving, and it's no exaggeration to call it a complete overhaul. It seems like the only thing these cars don't do is fly. Levels of Driving Automation In 2014, SAE International established International Standard J3016, which created an overarching system used to define gradients in automated driving.

Weaving through the crowds of the 2017 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, visitors encountered friendly-looking robots that played chess, swayed and played guitar, and offered help with all manner of domestic tasks. During a trade show dominated by AI's integration in everything from home appliances to self-driving cars, virtual assistants seemed omnipresent, often taking the form of knee-high robots that roamed the convention floor, innocently blinking up at onlookers or shouting greetings from their exhibitor booths. These robots are still far from the humanoid domestic servants often imagined in science fiction movies, but everything about them--their silhouettes, movements, and conversational tone--is meant to relieve some of the friction that people may feel introducing this level of technology into their houses. This user-friendly anthropomorphism wasn't just relegated to robots at CES. Toyota's much-hyped autonomous concept car, the Concept-i, was billed as "Less of a ...

Toyota unveiled its Concept-i vehicle today at CES, and in case you weren't sure, this is about as concept-y as concept vehicles get. The futuristic design and aerodynamic shape just screams science fiction. And to top it off, Toyota says the car has built-in artificial intelligence, nicknamed "Yui," designed to "learn from and grow with the driver." That's right, Toyota wants your car to become part of your family. "The interface begins with the visual representation of Yui, designed to communicate across cultures to a global audience," Toyota says.

If this year's CES continues to predict future tech trends, then we can soon expect to have emotional relationships with our cars, virtual reality devices so realistic you need a sick bag, and products so pricey most people won't be able to afford them. One of the main themes this year at the premier electronics convention, which is held annually in Vegas, is that in the future everything will have a relationship with everything. The Faraday Future FF 91, a family-sized electric vehicle with the acceleration of a Formula 1 car and a "brain" that will apparently be capable of learning from its driver, was unveiled at a media event on Tuesday, before Toyota and Honda took the concept of an intelligent car even further. Toyota showed off its "Concept-i" concept car, which it described as: "More than a machine. It will become our friend".