Automotive Photonic Journey - where Artificial Intelligence meets Opto Intelligence 

How do you best embrace competitive, sustainable and collaborative strategies to revolutionize fabs and semiconductor manufacturing and so enhance efficiency and performance? This was the focus of Fab Management Forum, co-located with electronica in Munich to create probably the strongest single event for electronics manufacturing in Europe. Wolfgang Lex, Senior Vice President, Business Line ‘Mobility & Illumination’ at ams OSRAM, joined representatives and other FMF committee members from the European semiconductor and electronics industry to share insights. In his session, Automotive Photonic Journey, he discussed how opto-intelligence – OI for short – will be essential to bridge AI's 'last mile' between machines and mankind, especially in automotive.
 

AI meets OI: what has light got to do with the evolution of artificial intelligence?

Artificial intelligence (AI) is the buzzword on everyone’s lips, affecting arguably every realm of our lives – not the least automotive and mobility. For the companies charged with turning the often tech hype into electronically-achievable reality, a crucial point is often overlooked: how do we enable our machines and digital devices to communicate with us humans, whatever the environment? For example:

  • In smart living spaces, as you work, the light adjusts to promote concentration, and in the evening it dims to create a relaxing atmosphere.
  • Interactive displays and projections replace traditional screens turn the living room into a dynamic, personalized media center.
  • In public buildings and on streets, light is used to convey information to people. 
  • In shopping centers, systems recognize regular customers, greet them and inform them about new things in a targeted way. 
  • In shopping malls and airports, smart lighting systems guide visitors to their destinations and inform them of important events or offers.


Here, not just AI, but also optical technologies come into play – and this is an area where ams OSRAM shines and is well placed to fully exploit the man-machine interface for ever-new applications with our intelligent, ‘digital’, lighting technologies (EVIYOS® and ALIYOS™).

Increasingly we will see opto-intelligence (OI) and light play an essential role in conveying information between intelligent systems and the environment. The answer lies in the photonic technologies developed by ams OSRAM, which act as the link between the insights of artificial intelligence and the physical world. While AI systems analyze data and make decisions, it is light – or more precisely, photons – that make this information visible and understandable to humans.

Photons are the medium through which 90% of the information is transmitted from machines to humans. This is where ams OSRAM's key expertise lies: the company has not only developed the technology to capture AI inputs through sensors, but also the ability to make this data visible through photonic output technologies like intelligent light sources for projections or displays. Without this final step of bringing the information from the machine to the human, every AI decision would remain hidden.

One example is the EVIYOS® technology in the automotive sector, where intelligent light sources are used not only to illuminate the surroundings but also to communicate with other road users.
 


The vehicle selects the appropriate light depending on the situation, recognizes oncoming traffic, and automatically adjusts the lighting. The real breakthrough, however, lies in the ability to interact with the outside world – such as with pedestrians or cyclists. For example, the light can detect a person at a crosswalk, illuminate them directly and dramatically increase safety. A study in the U.S. showed that safety at such intelligent pedestrian crossings is significantly improved when people are directly illuminated, making them more visible.
 


Another example is the use of pixelated light sources in windshields. With EVIYOS® and ALIYOS™ technologies, personalized information can be projected directly onto the windshield, giving the driver real-time alerts and warnings. This demonstrates the potential of OI to make machine-human interaction safer and more efficient.
 


This intelligent lighting is not limited to vehicles. In smart cities, light sources can be used to safely guide pedestrians across streets or interact with customers in retail spaces. In the realm of intelligent shop lighting, personalized lighting could greet customers and respond to their preferences. In high-end stores, customers could be welcomed through light projections even before they enter the shop, based on their past visits or personal preferences – elevating the shopping experience to a whole new level. Personalized light projections could welcome visitors with tailored greetings, while the lighting reacts in real-time to customer movements. This technology also has the potential to be applied in other areas, such as large-scale outdoor advertising or intelligent city lighting. This is not only an exciting vision for shaping the future of cities and retail.

The vision of ‘AI meets OI’ creates new possibilities for the future. While AI performs the analysis and decision-making in the background, it is the photonic technologies that transport these insights into the physical world- and light, in the form of photons, plays the central role, transmitting the information from the system to humans. 

ams OSRAM's particular strength lies in covering the entire value chain: from capturing data via sensors to transmitting that data in the form of light signals. The company has already developed the technologies needed to turn this vision into reality and is well placed to partner with customers to bridge this ‘last mile.’