Ashok Leyland's Chief Information Officer, Vinod G, believes that the latest artificial intelligence (AI) technologies such as generative pre trained transformers (GPT), have the potential to fundamentally transform the automotive sector. This will have an impact on every facet of the company's operations, including production, sales, finances, the management of human resources, and safety, among others.
GPT, also known as a conversational AI or chatbot, is a large language model that has been trained to be informative and comprehensive. It was trained with massive amounts of text data and can communicate and generate human-like text in response to a variety of prompts and questions.
Vinod, who has been with the trucking company for about 28 years, claims that GPT can be used in a variety of ways, including customer recommendations, evaluation, negotiation, purchase, operations, maintenance, and finally disposal of the vehicle. It can help OEMs like Ashok Leyland and others overcome bottlenecks in the manufacturing process while also improving vehicle processes, design, and quality. "A lot of data is being captured from various sources, and with all of those being put into place and the model being trained, we see a lot of use cases coming out of the GPT," Vindo told Autocar Professional.
Vinod highlighted that MIHU or "May I Help You," is a voice-powered bot that converts voice to text using natural text processing, and explained how it helps them address HR and business queries. For example, when asked about sales, the bot not only provides a detailed response but also slices and dices the data based on geographies and products. Similarly, a bot known as "supplier buddy" assists the company's suppliers in responding to their questions about functions such as invoices and payments. " So, less human intervention is required on this side to address these routine queries," Vinod added.
It's not just Ashok Leyland; almost every major CV manufacturer, including the likes of Tata Motors, Volvo Eicher Commercial Vehicles (VECV), and others, are looking to tap the power of AI and other technologies on similar lines.
Ashok Leyland says that close to 1.5 lakh of its vehicles are connected to iAlert, which is the company's platform for connected vehicles. It processes close to a terabyte of data every day and keeps track of more than 25 million kilometres of vehicle operation every day, based on more than 130 parameters coming from the vehicle ECU (Electronic Control Unit). This data, along with data from its customer relationship management system and its dealership business management platform, gives a deep understanding of how their vehicles perform, how productive they are, how safe they are, and how to keep their costs down.
"A lot of data is being captured from various sources, and with all of those being put into a place and the model being trained, we see a lot of use cases coming out of the GPT," Vinod continued.
To sum up, as AI continues to develop, it is likely to have a profound impact on the automotive sector. AI-powered technologies have the potential to improve safety, efficiency, and productivity, and they could even lead to the development of new types of vehicles that are not possible today.