Artificial intelligence in driving aids, for more intelligent cars
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AI in action at Renault Group - Episode 3
A key focus of our sustainable development strategy, safety is a priority for Renault Group. The company equips its brands’vehicles with new-generation driving aids and is (already) using artificial intelligence to improve their efficiency. Find out which vehicles are concerned and how this approach works in this new episode of our series on AI within Renault Group.
What is the role of artificial intelligence in driving aids?
Since ABS – the first active safety system – made its debut in the 1970s, cars have gained an exponential number of driving aids. A hybrid family car such as Renault Symbioz, for example, includes 29 driving aids, including the new rear automatic emergency braking function.
From the wheel to the engine to the passenger compartment, sensors are everywhere. And a growing number of ECUs are required to manage and interpret the information gathered. These increasingly sophisticated systems are like small computers.
AI is an effective solution for managing this technological complexity. It is able to increase the operational reliability of driving aids for more robust analysis in the face of environmental constraints.
Inside augmented vehicles, AI is gradually finding its way into multimedia systems to meet our needs and even anticipate them.
In other words, the computing power of AI boosts both speed and efficiency, whether activating a safety device or verifying the reliability of information displayed on the dashboard.
Let's take the example of Intelligent Speed Assistance (ISA). Compulsory in France since July 2024, it displays traffic signs on the dashboard. On Renault Group vehicles, AI is used to improve the pertinence of road sign recognition by the sensors at the front of the vehicle. To achieve this, it analyses the data saved by the ECU, based on millions of photos of real road signs.
Which driving aids use AI?
Applied to the automotive industry, AI cannot simply be an add-on. It has to play a real role and meet a genuine need. The type of AI used in Renault Group driving aids is therefore mature, proven, unconnected and 100% safe.
For security reasons, the AI used onboard Renault Group vehicle cannot update itself or perform any action/command that is not in the “rules” of its settings.
The best-known and most popular type of AI is so-called "generative" AI, which is connected and learning-based (experts refer to a neural network). This is the type of AI used, for example, by Large Language Models or LLMs (i.e. conversational agents using AI to generate texts) such as ChatGPT.
A distinction can be made between several types of AI.
The AI used in driving aids is, automated, non-connected (no data leaves the vehicle) and rules-based. As it depends on rules, its efficiency depends on the robustness of the data recorded.
AI will be deployed gradually on Renault Group vehicles. The current scope of AI use is clearly defined and will focus in the first instance on vehicle driving aids. To date, AI is present only in the ECUs of systems using sensors or cameras. The next stage will involve using AI to extend the scope of the multimedia interface, a process facilitated by the Reno avatar.
In Renault Group vehicles, such as New Clio, AI is present in:
- Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC), which adjusts speed to maintain a safe distance from the vehicle in front
- Lane Assist, which identifies road markings to set the vehicle back on course if necessary
- Intelligent Speed Assistance (ISA), which displays the current speed limit on the dashboard.
A new AI-based facial recognition system
New Renault Austral and New Renault Scenic are pioneering the use of AI in the cabin with a driver recognition function. Using a camera in the left-hand windscreen pillar (A-pillar), this system is able to identify the driver and personalise a range of settings: home menu, favourite radio and media stations, driving position (power adjustment of driver's seat and door mirrors) and Google apps, using the OpenR link system.
Renault also used AI to develop the app “Take a break!” (available for downloading from MyRenault) to detect driver fatigue and drowsiness. Specifically, the app uses images from the onboard camera to interpret the facial movements of the driver. If they blink frequently, close their eyes or yawn constantly, the system sends out an alert, encouraging them to take a break.
Today, AI in driving aids is already making cars more intelligent. And in the future, the technical capabilities of the Software Defined Vehicle (SDV) will considerably expand the scope of AI applications. Based on centralised electrical and electronic architecture managed by a super ECU, itself driven by a powerful operating system, the SDV will enable the integration of new functions throughout the vehicle's life cycle.Renault Group is leading the way in this field with automotive platforms designed by its pure player Ampere, to manufacture the latest generation of electric vehicles and training teams in automotive data and AI. The use of AI in cars is still in its infancy...
