GM Uses AI to Turn Hand Sketches Into Car Designs in Minutes Instead of Months

Assisted Intelligence

The AI craze has defined the past few years for humankind. From a world that seemingly lived and even thrived without it, we have suddenly integrated it into our lives as a necessity. AI has empowered our smart devices, our cars, and our lives in many ways, creating and in some cases shifting reality.

While there are valid reasons to be skeptical or wary of AI, some of its applications are helpful. Most major companies across all industries have incorporated AI in one way or another. For most people, AI is used as an assistant to improve internal processes and tasks.

AI Car Design

General Motors (GM) is one of the larger automotive companies in the world, spanning more than a century in the automotive manufacturing business. It wouldn’t have gotten this far without a forward-thinking mindset; each new technological push helps modernize automotive production.

GM’s new initiative integrates AI with its in-house car design team, with the main goal of streamlining the design process. Car design is an important aspect of the production process, and this used to take weeks or even months to accomplish.

GM says this new AI-integrated process takes mere minutes, giving designers more room for creativity. The people leading this shift within GM will tell you that AI’s best use isn’t in taking over car design, it’s augmenting human creativity.

According to Bryan Styles, the Director of Design Innovation and Technology Operations, GM is focused on finding a way to effectively ride the wave of AI technology. He also explains that they are using AI to help them be better at things they’re already good at, as a tool to augment and expedite processes.

Extrapolation of Design

AI is not taking over the designs of GM’s cars, but is helping designers get more out of their creative visions in a shorter timespan. AI allows the design team to see the full outcome of the design vision through an AI-generated image. Basically, the designer hand-draws a design, feeds the design into an AI tool, and asks it to generate images. The tool eventually generates 3D photos of the car design in motion.

This whole process used to take weeks and months of work with a team; now it takes a day and can be completed by a single designer. Another key part of the automotive design process is aerodynamics, form, and function. AI is also helping GM create better designs by using aerodynamic models generated by the AI tech.