Hei Olli, why did you break?

Roberto Saracco July 7, 2016 Blog 96 Views

Local Motors made the headlines when it created the first 3D printed car. Now it is back with Olli, a self driving car that has started operation in Washington DC, Miami Dade-County and Las Vegas. To be a self driving car is a good recipe to attract attention but in this case the attention is doubled by the capability of Olli to interact, in natural language with its passengers.
Olli is connected to Watson, the IBM "intelligent computer" that showed its smarts by winning Jeopardy few years ago and that is now being used in areas like medical diagnostic support. With the help of Watson, Olli can converse with its passengers in natural language.
You tell Olli where you want to go, and then you may ask how long is it going to take, or to point you to some interesting spots on the way. You may also inquire why it breaks when apparently there was no need for it…
What I found intriguing is the idea of a car that on the one hand may steal the driving pleasure from me but at the same time makes up for the resulting (potential) boredom of the trip by becoming something I can converse with.
Clearly, it will take some time, at least to me, to get used to converse with a machine, even one with a nice name like Olli. I am just starting to get used to talk to a machine, like my smart phone, to have it perform a certain task. From talking to converse there is a huge leap to make.
Interesting times ahead!

About Roberto Saracco

Roberto Saracco fell in love with technology and its implications long time ago. His background is in math and computer science. Until April 2017 he led the EIT Digital Italian Node and then was head of the Industrial Doctoral School of EIT Digital up to September 2018. Previously, up to December 2011 he was the Director of the Telecom Italia Future Centre in Venice, looking at the interplay of technology evolution, economics and society. At the turn of the century he led a World Bank-Infodev project to stimulate entrepreneurship in Latin America. He is a senior member of IEEE where he leads the New Initiative Committee and co-chairs the Digital Reality Initiative. He is a member of the IEEE in 2050 Ad Hoc Committee. He teaches a Master course on Technology Forecasting and Market impact at the University of Trento. He has published over 100 papers in journals and magazines and 14 books.

Home | Contact & Support | Accessibility | Nondiscrimination Policy | IEEE Ethics Reporting | IEEE Privacy Policy | Terms
© Copyright 2024 IEEE – All rights reserved.
A not-for-profit organization, IEEE is the world's largest technical professional organization dedicated to advancing technology for the benefit of humanity.