SEAT is working with IBM to develop an AI solution that will help people with all of their daily transportation needs, enabling them to plan and choose the most suitable means of transport, including cars, scooters, bikes, and public transport.

‘Mobility Advisor’, which is currently under development and designed to run as a mobile app on both 4G and 5G networks, will make use of IBM Watson AI to provide users with a conversational interface to plan and optimise routes, suggesting the most suitable transportation options.

“Traffic congestion and environmental challenges are putting huge pressure on cities to transform,” said Jordi Caus, SEATs head of new urban mobility concepts. “At SEAT we are leading the way by working with innovative cities and technology companies to come up with solutions to make mobility easier and more efficient. With its advanced cloud and AI technologies, IBM is helping us to innovate new approaches to mobility that will transform our business strategy while improving the lives of people living in urban areas.”

The solution will make use of IBM Watson’s machine learning capabilities to learn the user preferences and make personalised recommendations, while its connection to IBM Cloud means it will be able to adapt to changing conditions relating to weather forecasts, traffic reports, and other occurrences.

“With the roll-out of 5G networks in cities in the coming years, the possibilities for transforming the driver experience are limitless,” said Juan Ramon Gutierrez Villar, industry solutions leader for global markets at IBM. “At IBM, we are working with telecommunications companies and innovative manufactures like SEAT to provide the open technologies which they need to deliver on this vision and create highly contextualised and personalised user experiences that work at lightning speed across multiple clouds and IT platforms.”

Volkswagen-owned SEAT’s R&D mobility is working with IBM technicians to evolve the Mobility Advisor proof of concept into a real-life solution. Working with XMOBA, SEAT’s subsidiary which tests new solutions for better mobility, SEAT will look to integrate Mobility Advisor with Justmoove, a collaborative mobility solutions platform offered by the company to customers. IBM’s side of the project is being implemented by its Viewnext subsidiary.