Auto Industry Hilariously Outsourced to AI: “Screw it, Let the Bots Build the Cars”
In a move that nobody could have possibly predicted (except maybe Isaac Asimov), the esteemed engineers at MIT have decided to completely outsource the future of car design to artificial intelligence. Clearly exhausted from the grueling task of designing vehicles that can be both driven and not resemble blocky LEGO disasters, the geniuses have created a monstrous dataset of more than 8,000 car designs and dumped it sulkily onto the internet under the catchy name, DrivAerNet++.
“We got tired of pretending we didn’t just want our software to do our jobs for us,” quipped an MIT spokesperson, while nervously eyeing the towering stacks of design sketches crammed with hastily drawn electric cars that look like shoeboxes on wheels. “Besides, who gets excited about fuel efficiency these days? We need more sexy, aerodynamic data points.”
MIT’s dataset is a playground of incredibly exciting terms like “mesh” and “point cloud,” designed to make any AI squeal with silicon-based glee. Naturally, this offers a cornucopia of options to those AI models that aren’t already busy deciding the fate of humanity or writing about it in their spare time. The dataset apparently simulates how air would flow around a car, meaning that future Teslas might actually become sentient and have opinions about their aerodynamic progress.
Mohamed Elrefaie, an enthusiastic graduate student who may or may not be founded entirely of memes and caffeine, assured the public that this is “the best time for accelerating car innovations, especially since automobiles are responsible for about half of the air pollution allegedly killing the planet.” He added, “So, get ready! We’re shaving off the contribution of auto pollution… more or less… maybe a little.”
In a revolutionary display of tech wizardry reminiscent of a science fair on caffeine-fueled steroids, the team somehow managed to spend 3 million CPU hours and produced 39 terabytes of data, more than enough to challenge Netflix to a duel or fill the world’s largest Wikipedia rabbit hole. This level of dedication to not physically testing any of these car models conjures visions of virtual wind tunnels filled with quarks and regrettable design decisions.
But wait, there’s more! Instead of painstakingly building a car to see if it can achieve the automotive equivalent of not sucking, why not just ask the magic AI oracle in the cloud? “Designers could simply input their whimsical, completely unproven car blueprints, and voilà!” explained one of the researchers. “In seconds, get detailed aerodynamics, fuel efficiency, and electric range estimates. Take that, traditional testing!”
Skeptics worry that this AI-driven design process could result in vehicles that look like impractical futuristic artworks or stealthily retooled code from Minecraft. However, all we can do now is sit back, watch, and hope whatever is created doesn’t become a real-world Mario Kart track.
Meanwhile, the automotive industry privately weeps, comforts itself with fossil fuels, and praises the masterful delegation to our silicon-brained successors. As they say, if you can’t beat them (or design better than them), let the AI try.
