Mercedes Already Uses AI To Design Cars

These days it seems like AI is everywhere, including designing future Mercedes cars. That’s right, the storied German brand which invented the automobile is using artificial intelligence to design future models, shocking purists and intriguing those embracing cutting-edge technology.

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That’s what Mercedes-Benz Chief Design Officer Gorden Wagener disclosed in a recent ABC News interview. He was directly asked about his designers using AI and the man answered frankly, admitting it’s already part of the process inside the company.

However, Wagener was quicky to admit most of what artificial intelligence does is garbage, saying human designers have to sift through the garbage to find the “1% good stuff.” Still, with those kinds of low returns, the man admits the technology is “getting better every day.”

In other words, he sees tremendous room for growth as AI does more of the heavy lifting in the car design process. Wagener conjectures that in about a decade the technology might be doing the majority of the design work, eventually making designers “obsolete.”

He even jokes about his successor being cheaper because it will be a machine. To some, particularly of the rising generation that’s wondering what jobs will be left, that’s not a laughing matter.

Wagener not only oversees designs for Mercedes-Benz models but also Mercedes-AMG and Mercedes-Maybach. From the interview, we’re to understand AI plays a role for all three lines.

In the interview, Wagener said a big hurdle with electric cars is that consumers perceive them as a purely electronic device. Some automotive enthusiasts will call them appliances, something you use and when it breaks you toss it, then get a new one.

According to Wagener, consumers still look at traditional internal combustion engine vehicles and see them as something which will last for a long time. Considering how much cars cost these days, can anyone blame shoppers for wanting to drop that kind of money on something which will stick around?

Images via Mercedes-Benz