Mitsubishi Unveils e-Evolution Artificial Intelligence
It wasn’t too long ago that we got word about Mitsubishi Motors resurrecting the Evo nameplate as a new electric vehicle concept. It got our hopes up for the Mitsubishi eX concept that we’ve been hearing about for the past year or so. In fact, there have been multiple hints at the eX concept since its debut, including a GT-PHEV concept at the 2016 Paris Motor Show and the cross-brand electric vehicle between Mitsubishi and Nissan-Renault. We just didn’t know it was so close.
The electric vehicle Mitsubishi will be debuting at the 2017 Tokyo Motor Show this month (October 2017) is a variant of the Mitsubishi eX concept. We’re not sure if it will look the same as first speculated, but we do know it will drive very similar to the original concept. The eX concept was to be powered by two compact, high-output electric motors, one in the front and one in the back. This new vehicle, the e-Evolution concept, will come with three motors, one sitting at the front axle and the other two at the rear.
Of course that’s not enough to say this is the eX concept we’ve been waiting on, but the integration of artificial intelligence (A.I.) technology sure is persuasive! Yeah, that’s right. Mitsubishi will be adding A.I. into its e-Evolution concept, and it will be the first car in history to ever have this level of artificial intelligence integrated into a vehicle. The A.I. will also be making use of Mitsubishi’s autonomous technology to read changes in the road and traffic conditions in real time via an array of sensors.
That’s not all though. Like Mitsubishi’s INVEC transmission that adapts to the driver’s driving habits, the A.I. will also respond and coordinate its self-driving capabilities with the driver’s intentions while on the road. Moreover, the onboard computer will advise the driver via verbal communication. This is starting to sound a lot like the virtual assistant that appeared in the Mitsubishi Connect promo. And when we say verbal communication, we mean an actual dialogue.
No more are the days of talking to the car or the car just talking to the driver. The driver will be able to use voice recognition to control the a/c, wipers, headlights, and even vehicle-to-home communication by linking to devices such as the Amazon Echo with Alexa and Google Assistant on Google Home VPA-enabled wireless speakers. That means while approaching one’s home, the driver can literally tell their car to tell Alexa to turn the a/c down so they’re not entering a hot house, or to turn on the lights so they’re not fumbling in the dark for their keys when they get home.
The sad part? Even with all this cool stuff, it’s just a concept, and Mitsubishi has no plans to adopt the technologies featured in the e-Evolution concept until 2020. So close, right? Sigh, only two more years for the real smart car.
What do you think of this new Mitsubishi e-Evolution concept? Who thought Mitsubishi Motors would be the first ones to revolutionize vehicles like this? It’s pretty amazing, and we’ll be talking all about it on social media.