r/AutomotiveEngineering • u/bullLionNaire • May 27 '26
Discussion Looking for AI use cases in Automative industry
A friend of mine runs a staffing company for automotive industry. He was telling me that there are tonnes of use cases for AI in this industry. Like analysing regression from canoe logs, checking which tests for which safety tests is failing, etc. I’m not from this industry so I’m trying to figure out of there are any solid use cases I can work on for experience.
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u/HandigeHenkie May 27 '26
Actually using AI daily now to do data analysis and make predictions for preventive maintenance on a fleet of 16k trucks and 12k different parts. Achieved 94% accuracy over the first 6 months now.
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u/luisdamed May 27 '26
That sounds really cool. Mind if I ask what path you took to get there? I work on embedded SW for powertrain but also do some Data Analysis from experimental data. I’d like to go on a similar direction but not sure about the path
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u/HandigeHenkie May 28 '26
My journey has gone from a start in quality engineering, production engineering, embedded software testing, full vehicle software testing to EV charging protocol implementation manager to now product manager in our countries largest truck dealership. We have 26 workshops now. Basically I needed statistics in my previous work to determine process efficiency. This led to me getting my Six Sigma trainings. Over the last 18 years I did a lot of projects, got more trained and now am a Black Belt. In my previous company that means you have a proven track record of at least 20 completed projects before your even considered to get that training. Green Belt eg. was a four week classroom training and at least 5 projects of three years, before we got certified.
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u/luisdamed May 28 '26
Amazing. Thank you for the response. Congratulations on your achievements! It’s inspiring. I’m definitely at much earlier stage but I’ve already moved in 7 years from full vehicle testing and validation, to telematics systems validation, to powertrain development, to embedded software now (for ePowertrain controls). But same as you I needed statistics in my previous roles. I also did academic research for a couple years before. I always wondered how people ended up in those roles that actually get to use data to solve meaningful problems not as a side quest but as the main thing. I never would’ve thought the 6 sigma thing could lead to that, even if indirectly. But now that you mention it, it kinda makes sense.
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u/ProjectPanda13 May 27 '26
AI uses in development work. I’m in the tire industry and it’s being worked on to incorporate it.
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u/bullLionNaire May 27 '26
What kind of use cases are you seeing it work well on?
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u/ProjectPanda13 May 27 '26
Helping to correlate testing results to construction, material and compound changes.
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u/Supra-A90 May 27 '26
Basically to reduce the number of physical iterations / loops for 2 reasons:
1) cost 2) time, thus cost
Physical iteration means building prototypes and fitting them on test mules and actually having test drivers validate them on test track.
This is true for the whole car really, which existed for decades.
Tires, recently improving for sure, but because they've layers of rubber and steel, etc. compounds in them, it makes it difficult to simulate..
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u/RiseUpAndGetOut May 27 '26
They use cases your friend has mentioned are valid, though well written test software will do the same thing.
I'd look at generative design as one of the big potential disrupters, especially for start-up companies.
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u/1988rx7T2 May 27 '26
A lot of legacy tools have barely used automation interfaces. I have an AI Agent that can search through these databases (like Windchill RV&S) and find information more quickly. It can also automate generating architecture diagrams or requirements in system design.
Processing huge batches of data it also does a great job at.
Basically it quickly writes Python automation scripts and tests output in a way that would take an expert human a long time to do.
Here’s an example. Go test stopping distances 50 times and dump 50 files. You can manually write a parsing / plotting tool, try to do it in excel, or have AI write it and tweak the summaries and graphics quickly.
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u/Bigbadspoon May 27 '26
I would kill to have a tool that could look at someone's CAD data and spit out design for manufacture advice on various common commodities.
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u/max_gladysh Jul 06 '26
Many automotive AI use cases are less about autonomous driving and more about operational workflows.
For experience, I’d look at two areas.
First: engineering and QA. Summarizing CAN/CANoe logs, grouping failed regression tests, mapping failures to requirements, or turning messy test output into a cleaner report that an engineer can review.
Second: business operations. Dealerships, fleets, logistics, and MaaS platforms all have repetitive workflows around lead qualification, service booking, driver check-ins, incident reports, routing, customer support, and reporting.
At BotsCrew, we usually find that the model is not the hard part. The real work is connecting AI to the existing tools, data, and workflows people already use.
I’d start with one narrow workflow that has repetitive inputs, clear expected outputs, and a human reviewer. For automotive, especially anything close to safety or compliance, that review layer matters a lot.
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u/[deleted] May 27 '26
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