NOMI - The world's first in-car companion
Personal robots with assistive tool integrated within are not a new thing but placing them into cars is a relatively recent concept. While there are some car manufacturers with AI assistant within the system, none of them taken the approach that the Chinese manufacturer NIO took.
NIO is a pioneer in China’s premium electric vehicle market. Founded in 2014, NIO’s mission is to shape a joyful lifestyle for its users by offering premium smart electric vehicles. NIO started the deliveries of the ES8, a 7-seater high-performance premium electric SUV, in China only 4 years later. To challenge established car brands even more, NIO set out to bridge the domains of IT, automotive and lifestyle. Star came in when NIO needed support for one of their most visionary ideas: an artificial intelligence named ‘Nomi’ ("Co-designing the worlds," n.d.)
Through Nomi, NIO set out to weave an emotional bond between their vehicles and the people in them. The result was to be radically new – both for the automotive industry and in consumer electronics.
Many car companies' smart cabin design is centered on the screen, for example, Byton wants to create an interactive experience like sitting in a living room through a large screen. Nio has left the most central position in front of the cockpit to NOMI (Zhang, 2021).
When it senses that someone has entered the car, it will turn its face in the direction of someone opening the door and say hello to the user. according to Li, "NOMI complements the car and is the only face and soul of the vehicle to communicate with the user" (Zhang, 2021).
This is one of the most well done new technology integration I've ever seen in a car, going solely based on looks and the description from the design team. It sounds like the team working on it had great care for their customers and deep understanding of how to make the system to be welcoming and easy to use.
I think these kinds of assistive companions can be very useful in implementing education programs to children in the back seat. The companion could learn their skill level and adjust its teaching to the level that the child is capable of achieving. They can become very personalized devices with features catered to your activity.
References
Co-designing the world’s first in-car companion. star.global. (n.d.). https://star.global/cases/nio-nomi/
Zhang, P. (2021, March 29). What is Nomi? here’s Everything you need to know. cnevpost.com. https://cnevpost.com/2021/03/30/what-is-nomi-heres-everything-you-need-to-know/
