AI-powered Dragon Drive will turn your car into a roving genius

By Lulu Chang Published January 4, 2018

You might not be able to get into the carpool lane with the new Dragon Drive automotive platform from Nuance Communications, but it’ll certainly feel as though you have a very, very intelligent passenger in the front seat with you. At CES 2018, Nuance announced its new AI-powered Dragon Drive features that promise to transform the driving experience.

By combining conversational artificial intelligence with a number of nonverbal cues, Dragon Drive helps you talk to your car as though you were talking to a person. For example, the AI platform now boasts gaze detection, which allows drivers to get information about and interact with objects and places outside of the car simply by looking at them and asking Dragon Drive for details. If you drive past a restaurant, you can simply focus your gaze at said establishment and say, “Call that restaurant,” or “How is that restaurant rated?” Dragon Drive provides a “meaningful, human-like response.”

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Moreover, the platform enables better communication with a whole host of virtual assistants, including smart home devices and other popular AI platforms. In this way, Dragon Drive claims, drivers will be able to manage a host of tasks all from their cars, whether it’s setting their home heating system or transferring money between bank accounts.

Dragon Drive’s AI integration does not only apply to external factors, but to components within the car as well. For instance, if you ask the AI platform to find parking, Dragon Drive will take into consideration whether or not your windshield wipers are on to determine whether it ought to direct you to a covered parking area to avoid the rain. And if you tell Dragon Drive you’re cold, the system will automatically adjust the car’s climate (but only in your area, keeping other passengers comfortable).

“The car is quickly rising to become the leading AI platform, especially with the future of connected and autonomous vehicles upon us,” said Arnd Weil, senior vice president, automotive, Nuance Mobile. “Utilizing a combination of conversational AI with in-car sensors and data, we’re able to create greater awareness, understanding, and ultimately intelligence for the automotive assistant, creating a truly holistic and seamless user experience for drivers.”

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From Paris to NYC, Mobileye will bring self-driving cars to metropolises

A self-driving vehicle from Mobileye's autonomous test fleet navigates the streets of Detroit. (Credit: Mobileye, an Intel Company)

A Tesla in Autopilot mode can ply the highways of Northern California without issue, but when it comes to congested cities packed with erratic vehicle traffic, bikes, and pedestrians, cameras don’t always cut it. Or they didn’t, anyway. After years of testing, Intel-owned Mobileye intends to embrace the madness of the metropolis by rolling out self-driving cars in cities across the world.

On Monday, the first day of CES 2021, the company announced that Tokyo, Shanghai, Paris, Detroit, and New York City will all see fleets of Mobileye-powered vehicles rolled out in early 2021, if all goes well (regulatory issues are still being ironed out in NYC).

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Self-driving forklifts are here to revolutionize warehouses, for better or worse

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Imagine a future Blade Runner-esque workplace in which human and robot co-workers work side by side without it seeming in the least bit remarkable. As it turns out, you don’t need to be much of a futurist to conceive of such a scenario: It’s been the day-to-day reality of factory and warehouse workers for decades.

The term “automation” was first coined in 1948 by Delmar S. Harder, an engineer and vice president at the Ford Motor Company to describe the handoff of particularly heavy, repetitive, and dangerous jobs to machines in industrial settings like factories. The first industrial robots and automated warehouses began appearing in the 1960s -- and have only grown in number since then.

Cars

Electric Muscle Misfire? Dodge Pulls Charger Daytona R/T from 2026 Lineup

electric muscle misfire dodge pulls charger daytona r t from 2026 lineup all new

The Dodge Charger Daytona R/T, once hailed as the vanguard of Dodge’s electric muscle car future, is being dropped for the 2026 model year.
According to a report from MoparInsiders, the Scat Pack variant will now lead the Daytona lineup, marking a significant pivot in Stellantis’ EV strategy.
Originally introduced with bold ambitions, the Charger Daytona R/T was designed to offer an accessible gateway into electric performance. With its 456-horsepower dual-motor setup and optional 509-horsepower Direct Connection stage kit, it seemed poised to excite both muscle car fans and EV newcomers. However, market realities have painted a different picture.
Industry and media reports highlight the core issue: buyers just weren’t biting. Despite its impressive specs and nostalgic design cues, the R/T struggled to justify its price tag, starting near $60,000. At that level, buyers expected either more performance or more premium features. Without strong sales traction, Dodge made the tough call to shelve the R/T variant for 2026, opting instead to focus on trims that resonate better with customers.
As we reported in December, the Charger EV was launched with an off-beat marketing message to “save the planet from self-driving sleep pods.” The goal was to retain Dodge’s brand identity—muscle, aggression, and driver engagement—even in the electric era. The Charger Daytona R/T was supposed to be the perfect balance of price and performance, but it seems the target audience wasn’t ready to make that leap at that price.
Importantly, this doesn’t spell the end of the Charger Daytona altogether. Higher-performance models like the Scat Pack and Banshee are still in the pipeline and, interestingly, are being adjusted for price competitiveness. Several trims are reportedly seeing price cuts, suggesting Stellantis is serious about making these vehicles more appealing and accessible.
For enthusiasts, the takeaway is clear: the electric muscle car isn’t going anywhere, but automakers are still figuring out how to sell it. The demise of the R/T is less a failure and more a recalibration—proof that even the boldest plans need to stay flexible in the face of consumer demand.