This Kia Habaniro Uses Artificial Intelligence To Know When You Are Sad

Korean car manufacturer Kia exhibits its Habaniro concept at the 2019 New York Auto Show, revealing its future vision for driverless electric cars. The Habaniro is a compact crossover utility vehicle that Kia calls an ‘everything car‘ – its suitable for urban transport, coastal road trips, wilderness adventures, and apparently, understanding your emotions.

Introduced earlier this year, the Habaniro uses Kia‘s new real-time emotion adaptive driving (R.E.A.D) system. The system was developed with researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of technology and uses artificial intelligence to monitor a passenger’s emotional state. The technology then optimizes and personalizes the cabin experience accordingly. For example, the vehicle detects stress levels via bio-signal recognition technology that reads facial expressions and monitors heart rate and electrodermal activity. Then, if necessary, through the use of lighting and sounds the car will then create a more relaxing environment.

Kia also hints at the possibility of READ systems one day being able to identify when a driver is hungry. The vehicle could then direct to the nearest drive-through where an order will be waiting.

Without any explanation on how this could exactly work, Kia only emphasizes the importance of AI in enhancing the driving experience. Something else that remains just as an idea at the moment is the car’s scissor-like door openings.

‘Some will assume the Habaniro concept will never be built, but we don’t advise betting the farm on it’, a press release reads. ‘In the past 18 months, Kia has launched two vehicles, the Stinger and the Telluride, from concepts that fully captured the public’s imagination. The Habaniro’s butterfly doors? Maybe not today, but the future is an exciting place and Kia is ready to lead the automotive industry into this spicy world of possibility.‘

It has a range of over 300 miles and it can seat up to five people. Meanwhile, 20-inch wheels and short overhangs make it possible that some of the fun making up those miles can be had off-road.

These are some of the images of the AI's car.