General Motors Eyes AI for Vehicle Inspections

Tim Healey
by Tim Healey

General Motors is looking into using artificial intelligence — AI — as part of its vehicle-inspection process.

GM has made an investment in Israeli startup UVeye, a company that makes vehicle diagnostic systems.

The diagnostic systems use AI and sensors to identify broken parts or issues that require maintenance. GM Ventures, which is the automaker’s venture fund, made the investment.

This isn’t the first AI-focused startup GM ventures has invested in. The amount hasn’t been disclosed.

GM will sell UVeye’s tech to its dealers, so that they can use it to improve their vehicle-inspection systems. In fact, the tech is already being used on a trial basis at a few stores.

In addition, GM and UVeye will work together to use the tech for other projects that revolve around vehicle inspections — fleet operations and used-car auctions, for example.

Pictures show a system that uses a large piece of machinery — the sourced link from The Verge compares it to airport body scanners — that scans the car and produces a report showing what’s wrong. Supposedly, it can drill down to small details like tire pressure, and it takes just a few minutes to produce the report.

AI, high-definition cameras, and machine learning work together to inspect the car and find damage, defects, or missing parts.

The system will eventually be made available to 4,000 dealerships across the country, according to GM. UVeye already has a deal with an unnamed “major automotive retail management system” used by 15,000 American dealerships.

UVeye also closed $60 million in series C funding from a group of investors including CarMax last year.

[Image: UVeye]

Tim Healey
Tim Healey

Tim Healey grew up around the auto-parts business and has always had a love for cars — his parents joke his first word was “‘Vette”. Despite this, he wanted to pursue a career in sports writing but he ended up falling semi-accidentally into the automotive-journalism industry, first at Consumer Guide Automotive and later at Web2Carz.com. He also worked as an industry analyst at Mintel Group and freelanced for About.com, CarFax, Vehix.com, High Gear Media, Torque News, FutureCar.com, Cars.com, among others, and of course Vertical Scope sites such as AutoGuide.com, Off-Road.com, and HybridCars.com. He’s an urbanite and as such, doesn’t need a daily driver, but if he had one, it would be compact, sporty, and have a manual transmission.

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  • Ol Shel Ol Shel on Jun 25, 2022

    3 were shot at WeatherTech Saturday morning. Thank God he had his 2nd Amendment rights. I'd hate to think how bad this would have been if he'd gone in there armed with only rage and fists.

    • See 1 previous
    • Bullnuke Bullnuke on Jun 25, 2022

      @bullnuke UPDATE: The incident referred to by Ol Shel occurred in in a Chicago, Illinois, suburb. The 2nd Amendment does not apply in that location as current state and local laws there do not permit firearms possession outside the domicile of the perpetrator.

  • Golden2husky Golden2husky on Jun 26, 2022

    Will this also scan and measure panel fit? GM has gotten much better with fit but there is still some room for improvement.

  • Oberkanone My grid hurts!Good luck with installing charger locations at leased locations with aging infrastructure. Perhaps USPS would have better start modernizing it's Post offices to meet future needs. Of course, USPS has no money for anything.
  • Dukeisduke If it's going to be a turbo 4-cylinder like the new Tacoma, I'll pass.BTW, I see lots of Tacomas on the road (mine is a 2013), but I haven't seen any 4th-gen trucks yet.
  • Oberkanone Expect 4Runner to combine best aspects of new Land Cruiser and new Tacoma and this is what I expect from 2025 4Runner.Toyota is REALLY on it's best game recently. Tacoma and Land Cruiser are examples of this.
  • ArialATOMV8 All I hope is that the 4Runner stays rugged and reliable.
  • Arthur Dailey Good. Whatever upsets the Chinese government is fine with me. And yes they are probably monitoring this thread/site.
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