Learning to drive can be stressful. And if you happen to get paired with an impatient teacher or crazed family member it can be a nightmare. Along with the stress, you might not learn enough to pass the driver’s test.

In an attempt to make students more at ease and help them learn as efficiently as possible, one driving school in China is taking out the human factor altogether. A driving school in Zhenjiang has installed AI coaches in the vehicles. The artificial intelligence, which lives in an interactive screen attached to the dashboard, provides automatic voice navigation and will give drivers unique commands.

For example, the robot voice will remind drivers to turn on their signal as the car approaches a turn or to slow down if they pick up too much speed.

Robot Driving Coach Keeps Students Calm

The artificial intelligence will also take control of the car if need be. If the car gets closer than 8 inches to an obstacle, it will automatically stop. Students have remarked how the AI driving coach seems a bit more pleasant than their human counterparts.

“I’m nervous when a real coach sits beside me. This robot is nicer. Even if I do something wrong, the robot will continue to encourage me, instead of blaming me,” said one student driver said.

The robot can be set to a teaching mode or simulated test mode in which the AI will let the driver know if they passed or not. The AI driving coach has not hit the busy streets of China yet as it seems limited to a closed course. Some students don’t feel something like this would be effective in a real environment.

“No robot coach would help me step on the brakes if I were accidentally to drive into a ditch,” one student commented.

Sources: Pear Video / ECNS

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