Mini cars are set to get an intelligent personal assistant known as Spike. Spike the English Bulldog will now be appearing in the Concept Aceman of the company at the Shanghai auto show just before rolling out to Mini production vehicles in the future.
Mini Cars Intelligent Personal Assistant
British car brand Mini which is owned by German automaker BMW has just announced a new “intelligent personal assistant” known as Spike, which is based on the English Bulldog that has appeared in some past Mini ads. Spike just as it is called will make his very first major appearance at the Shanghai auto show in the latter part of this month where he will be integrated into the cockpit of the Mini Concept Aceman.
We really cannot help but just agree with Jalopnik, which points out here that the whole announcement has very “Microsoft Clippy” vibes, or maybe even LG’s Bean Bird?
The Plan of the Company In Regard To Spike
The plan by the company is to have Spike appear in future production cars eventually. Carscoopsreports that these future models in question will get to include the 2023 Mini Countryman, the 2024 Mini Cooper, and lastly, the Aceman Crossover SUV in 2025.
It’s less clear at the moment exactly what Spike will be able to do in these vehicles in question, but in Shanghai, the character will provide “various forms of support” apparently to attendees from the central circular OLED display and dashboard of Aceman. You should expect more concrete details to be released over the course of this year in regard to the new development.
What Mini’s Design Head Has to Say about the New Development
“We are now taking Spike into the future as a digital character,” Mini’s design head Oliver Heilmer reportedly stated. “And he is not just a design experiment – he is becoming a characterful companion for the user experience.” Carscoops on its end notes that Spike sounds very much like an existing BMW feature that makes us of a simple voice to guide drivers around the infotainment features of its cars, only now the voice could now be getting a cartoon dog attached to it.
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