How BMW and HP Implement AI in Their Products

Artificial intelligence (AI) has been the hot topic across tech in 2023, with varying views about its use — from fear and apprehension to towering optimism and hope.

At the AWS re:Invent conference, Yahoo Finance spoke to German carmaker BMW and tech company HP about how they are practically implementing AI in their businesses. Both are Amazon Web Services (AWS) customers, yet there is a clear distinction between their AI efforts.

In order to prioritize safety, MBW isn’t in a hurry to keep up with these rapid developments in AI.

Stephan Durach, BMW’s senior vice president of Connected Company Development, said, “We don’t do beta testing with our customers, never. We don’t do this because, at the end of the day, you’ll get a 100% reliable product from us.” 

One prominent challenge in facilitating the widespread implementation of AI is the speed at which the technology is evolving. “Over just the last couple months, the technology’s development was super fast and nobody was expecting it,” Durach added.

Currently, BMW has been using AI to enhance its customer service. The company has incorporated a service called “Proactive Care” this year, which uses AI to identify problems, including diagnosing tire issues and addressing service messages in the vehicle, and then streamlines the communication process between customers and dealers to solve them.

BMW has also partnered with Nvidia in an effort to expand the level of virtual planning that it does during the car manufacturing process.

However, the company doesn’t want to overwhelm customers with AI-powered features that may seem exciting but are ultimately intrusive, disruptive, or just unneeded.

Durach told Yahoo Finance that there is “an element of trial and error,” and figuring out what works best involves better understanding what features BMW customers want and need when driving.

“We have the capability to understand what our customers are using in their cars pretty well,” he explained. “So we know exactly what the kinds of features getting used are, and what kinds of situations they’re getting used in.”

In 2024, the company will introduce BMW Intelligent Personal Assistant, “which is AI-powered and integrates Amazon’s Alexa to enhance the in-car conversation between drivers and their vehicles.”

HP, on the other hand, emphasized using one essential aspect of AI to improve and streamline workplaces, according to Gaurav Roy, HP’s workforce technology vice president. The company’s Workforce Experience Platform utilizes AI and machine learning to “sift through real-time data to optimize the performance and safety of devices across large organizations.”

Large companies have to keep track of thousands of devices, and the platform allows HP’s clients to quickly and effortlessly spot out-of-warranty PCs, broken printers, and much more. The platform also helps track employee engagement. The aim is to establish speedier workflows while maintaining and increasing the accuracy of organizations, according to Roy.

Both Roy and Durach agree that the introduction of these products should be a careful process, ensuring that companies thoroughly understand their AI-based features before taking the leap.