The potential for cognitive intelligence in autos includes more than the fully autonomous, self-driving car that gets all the hype. Even now, IBM is collaborating with other companies to add cognitive technology to cars as an assist to the driver, not a replacement.

“The big announcement at World of Watson was that IBM and General Motors have partnered to put Watson inside OnStar as part of an offering called OnStar Go,” said Joanna Peña-Bickley, global chief creative officer at IBM iX (IBM Interactive Experience).

Peña-Bickley spoke to Jeff Frick (@JeffFrick), host of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s mobile live streaming studio, during the North American International Auto Show about one of the company’s special automotive projects.

FOMO no more

Peña-Bickley said the use of Watson in OnStar Go will appeal to to the many drivers stricken with FOMO (fear of missing out) when they have to put down their mobile phone to man the wheel.

“It’s really about having a cognitive copilot that’s there with you no matter what nomadic device you’re on, so whether it’s your mobile phone, the vehicle in and of itself, or any moving device,” she explained. “I actually think it’s about augmenting intelligence. This is not about replacing the driver per se.”

Peña-Bickley asked, for instance, how many car owners have actually read their vehicle’s manual? Watson could store all that information and proffer it on an as needed basis; it could, for example, guide motorists through the process of changing a tire, even if they’d never done so before.

Watch the complete video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE and theCUBE’s coverage of the North American International Auto Show.

Photo by SiliconANGLE