As quantum computing approaches reality, players in the automotive industry are investigating its potential.
The European auto industry has a long and illustrious history of technological innovation..
From the Nesselsdorfer Wagenbau in 1898 to the 2023 McLaren Artura, Europe has always been at the forefront of the industry. So, let us consider what the future holds.
It’s a brave new world for automakers. As Europe moves toward sustainable energy, the combustion engine is becoming extinct after a century of advancement and improvement. However, electric motors are only one component of the automotive future.
The arrival of completely driverless vehicles is possible, and the promise of a battery with a million-mile range is getting closer.
European automakers are increasingly collaborating with quantum computing firms to chart a path to these technologies.
In order to move forward, the industry must make a quantum leap. Although still in their infancy, quantum computing and other quantum-based technologies have the potential to benefit the automotive industry in a variety of ways.
Autonomous driving is the low-hanging fruit. Despite the initial excitement, automakers and researchers are still attempting to develop self-driving cars.
Every step forward taken by companies such as BMW, Tesla, and Waymo appears to be accompanied by hundreds of edge cases that AI is unable to handle.
A quantum computer small enough to fit inside a car and act as the vehicle’s brain is probably still a long way off.
However, quantum speedup—the ability of quantum processors to perform operations and/or run algorithms that a classical system would not be able to do in a useful period—could provide advancements in several key areas for autonomous vehicle systems.
Terra Quantum AG researchers recently collaborated with Volkswagen to investigate cutting-edge approaches for using hybrid quantum neural networks to improve image recognition.
This experiment demonstrated how quantum technologies can significantly improve the quality assurance procedure.
Essentially, the researchers used quantum-powered AI to improve the precision of its image-detection capabilities in order to improve the quality of the car-making process.
The methods they’re developing could be easily applied to other fields, but they could also be used to improve self-driving cars’ “eyes” by speeding up and improving the accuracy of neural network image processing.
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