Like everywhere else, AI is seeping into the car industry. It’s being offered as a consumer-level feature with AI assistant features, but it’s also appearing on the industrial level. BMW is now adopting AI technology to assist with quality control on some of its new cars, such as the X1 and X2. It’s not doing the inspections itself, but it is advising on how to do them.
Custom Quality Checks
BMW is implementing its AI program at the Regensburg, Germany factory. The company builds the internal-combustion, hybrid, and electric versions of the aforementioned SUVs. In fact, it will also start building Neue Klasse models in the near future. BMW says that the factory currently produces 1,400 vehicles a day, with one coming off the line every minute. As such, the company wants to streamline quality control checks and get the most out of them. That’s where the AI system comes in.
What the system does, is it takes in what model and powertrain of vehicle is coming down the line, what features it’s equipped with, as well as other production data, and it decides what should be checked and in what order. Hypothetically, if a car is coming down the line with an unusual feature, that could get priority to make sure it’s been installed correctly. The same could go for a part that had recently been causing problems. Also, it can advise what order to check everything in, so that the check can go quickly. So, if there are a couple of items to check in one spot, it can organize them together. For the employees, the information comes via a phone app, and the employees can record notes to the app, even via audio.
Related
Ford Using AI Tech To Get A Grip On Quality Control Issues
The automaker has been plagued with quality problems but is now relying on clever AI technology to identify issues on the production line.
Not The Only Company Implementing AI In Quality Control
Ford has also started using AI in quality control, but its implementation is different to BMW’s. The system that Ford is using is actually doing some of the quality checks. Employees take photos of specific components. The AI has a database of images of the same components, and it can scan the new photo of the new part to quickly check if there are any faults that need to be addressed. Audi has also been using a similar system, but specifically focused on analyzing welds. That system has apparently eliminated the need for constant manual weld checks, allowing employees to look at other possible issues in the quality control process.
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