Jaguar Land Rover developing self-learning car

JAGUAR Land Rover has announced it is developing an intelligent self-learning car which will recognise the driver, check their schedule, plot a route and adjust the seat - all before they open the door.

That’s just a fraction of what the car will be able to do, thanks to technology being worked on by researchers at the Indian-owned British car-maker.

Jaguar Land Rover director of research and technology, Dr Wolfgang Epple said the goal is to create a car which offers a more personalised experience for the driver and to minimise distractions in an effort to help prevent accidents.

“Up until now most self-learning car research has only focused on traffic or navigation prediction,” Dr Epple said “We want to take this a significant step further.”

The technology is operated by the driver’s smart-phone linking up to the car’s own system called Smart Assistant, which can then access the driver’s calendar and use the information for navigation and reminders.

If, for example, you have a meeting at 2pm on Wednesday, the car will not only work out the best route to travel, but will offer to call ahead if it looks like you are running late.

The car features pioneering self-learning technology, which incorporates the latest machine learning and artificial intelligence techniques. As a result, the car will recognise the driver by their smart phone when it is within close enough proximity.

A new learning algorithm will allow the car to remember the seat, radio, climate and mirror settings, and adjust these to suit the driver.

The software also learns the owner’s driving style and when Auto Adaptive Cruise Control is enabled the car will mimic the style and remember the preferred distance the driver likes to keep from the car ahead, as well as the type of acceleration they find most comfortable.

“By developing a learning function for Adaptive Cruise Control,” said Dr Epple, “it is technology concepts like the self-learning car that will ensure any future intelligent car remains fun and rewarding to drive as we move closer to more autonomous driving over the next 10 years.”

Jaguar Land Rover says that the self-learning car will even be able to recognise the passengers from their smart-phones, and take their preferences into consideration when setting functions such as climate and media.