[RahulNagaraj]

Bentley cars now come with the ability to compose an instrumental soundtrack in real-time, based on the driver's inputs and driving style.



The luxury carmaker has partnered with LifeScore - a company that has expertise in 'Adaptive Music', to create a unique soundtrack for every occasion, be it relaxed grand touring or spirited driving on the open road.



This industry-first driver-vehicle-music synchronisation is said to use algorithms created from vehicle inputs, such as engine rpms and acceleration to compose a soundtrack in real-time. The algorithms also help the technology adapt to the changing inputs and driving conditions.



While the music itself has been recorded by real artists using classical and modern instruments, the sounds are broken up into files, which the technology later selects, combines and plays in real-time. Bentley claims that with the amount of audio data available, the technology can compose up to 100 billion unique soundtracks on a single 60-minute drive.



The technology, however, is still in its early stages. It will debut on the brand's first fully electric vehicle, which is expected to arrive sometime in 2025.

Link to Team-BHP news

[RedTerrano]

Based on my understanding of how this would work, I am a bit wary.

Consider the fag end of a 8 or even 10 hour journey. You are tired, physically as well as mentally. Fortunately you get an open stretch with very little traffic and you hit the sweet spot in top gear, cruising at steady RPMs, doing 80 or 90.
Then the AI jumps in and plays some soothing music. Already on the verge of exhaustion, you doze off...and game over?

[extreme_torque]

Finding a problem for a solution. A mechanical company working on the software as an aside building AI. What could go wrong?

[GeeTee TSI]

Hope there is option to play types of music opposite to the driving style as well, empathising with passengers coping with motion sickness

[TrackDay]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJWmP8EgCvI

How it works
Bentley and LifeScore are working together creating algorithms that allow vehicle inputs (such as engine RPM and acceleration) to influence the composition in real time, constantly adapting depending on the driving situation. This true driver-vehicle-music synchronisation is an industry first.

Every journey results in a real time user experience that is deeply personalised. The signals from the vehicle create a unique sonic soundscape that responds to how and where the vehicle is being driven and under what conditions. Rather than listening to music to distract from travel, the vehicle is now able to compose an instrumental soundtrack to engage with the journey.

LifeScore utilises world-class musicians, contemporary and classical instruments and cutting edge technology for recording at the world famous Abbey Road Studios. All of the audio elements are recorded in fully ambisonic (full sphere surround sound) audio using more than 50 microphones to provide for all possible future formats. In the cabin of the future, sound can be designed to come from any direction at the highest possible resolution.

This innovative approach combines human-composed and performed music, which can then be algorithmically reproduced on demand by the vehicle and delivered via the class-leading cabin.

The composers and musicians create building blocks (cells) of raw musical material, which the vehicle then selects, combines, layers and sequences together to produce the final music in real time. The result is endless varying renditions that can be unique on every listen for long durations without sounding repetitive or synthetic.

For example, when playing music in a Cocoon mode, as the vehicle is winding through town, the music builds and evolves slowly, and when cruising speed is achieved, the music is sustained and deeply calming. When Enhanced driving mode is engaged, the music is highly reactive and more exciting, sensing transmission changes, acceleration and torque, resulting in a high-intensity audio experience where driving style and sound are inextricably linked. Using artificial intelligence, the software optimises the responses in creation of the music for the driver.

The algorithms are designed to produce compositions that flow through themes and variations achieved by maximizing coherence, minimising repetition of cells and other AI-techniques. Therefore, one hours’ worth of human composed cells will generate practically unlimited hours of music.

Aligned with Bentley using craftsmanship and latest technical advancements to deliver the highest quality possible, LifeScore recently won Business Cloud’s MediaTech Innovators award for 2021.

Source: https://www.bentleymotors.com/en/wor...xperience.html

Seems interesting! In the era of digital music where thousands of songs can easily be played via a usb stick or Internet radio options, wonder how much acceptance this would find ? R&D money down the drain I would say. Such music would benefit more for something like a video game related to racing. Or else this could be another option for car makers to extract money via subscription charges.

[Maverick1977]

Originally Posted by RedTerrano

You are tired, physically as well as mentally. Already on the verge of exhaustion, you doze off...and game over?

Hmm, interesting thought. But then you missed one very important aspect - this is a BENTLEY. Most owners in India will be chauffeur driven and globally whoever will be self driving it are not likely to get tired given the amount of luxury and hi-tech gadgetry that you will be surrounded with. And I am sure they would have thought of this situation and the music would automatically change to wake you up from you slumber. Cheers!!!

[Dr.AD]

Originally Posted by RahulNagaraj

Bentley cars now come with the ability to compose an instrumental soundtrack in real-time, based on the driver's inputs and driving style.

The technology, however, is still in its early stages. It will debut on the brand's first fully electric vehicle, which is expected to arrive sometime in 2025.

This sounds totally futuristic and quite amazing honestly. I am actually super thrilled that these rich car companies are trying this (and some other crazy ideas in general), even if this may or may not work so well in current form. Such experimentation and investment on "crazy idea" is essential for advancement of technology in general.

Originally Posted by RedTerrano

Consider the fag end of a 8 or even 10 hour journey. You are tired, physically as well as mentally. Fortunately you get an open stretch with very little traffic and you hit the sweet spot in top gear, cruising at steady RPMs, doing 80 or 90.
Then the AI jumps in and plays some soothing music. Already on the verge of exhaustion, you doze off...and game over?

There is no need to believe it is so dumb. That algorithm is obviously quite sophisticated and there is no reason to believe it can not handle such situations. The algorithm would obviously know the total length of your drive, your driving distance and duration, overall driving style and many other things. There are even driver fatigue detection mechanism already in cars today and there is no reason to believe that would not be used by such algorithms too.

Originally Posted by extreme_torque

Finding a problem for a solution. A mechanical company working on the software as an aside building AI. What could go wrong?

I respectfully disagree. Such cray ideas are crucial for innovation, and many mass market innovations originally came from someone trying to find a problem with a some crazy solution in mind. I would not be surprised if this technology, in some simpler and more robust shape and form comes to mass market cars 10 years down the road and we all love that. Let us not dismiss a research idea just because we do not see an immediate use in our own vehicles today.

Further, there is nothing wrong with car companies investing in software development. Remember that most of the car technology today already revolves around software and computers. I would not dismiss any global automobile company as a "mechanical company".

Originally Posted by TrackDay

R&D money down the drain I would say.

Again, I would not jump to that conclusion. Many great R&D ideas start like this, and eventually they evolve to be useful to mass market segments in some form or shape. I would give kudos to those who invested in such ideas because investment in such ideas is the backbone of technology development. Maybe 90% of these fail, but the remaining 10% change our lives. But funding those 90% is essential to finally arrive at those 10%.

Originally Posted by Maverick1977

Hmm, interesting thought. But then you missed one very important aspect - this is a BENTLEY. Most owners in India will be chauffeur driven and globally whoever will be self driving it are not likely to get tired given the amount of luxury and hi-tech gadgetry that you will be surrounded with. And I am sure they would have thought of this situation and the music would automatically change to wake you up from you slumber. Cheers!!!

Totally agree with you. If we can read this news and think of some "corner cases", there is no reason to believe that the researchers who built this with so much of efforts and innovation, and the investors who invested a good amount of money in this would not have thought about those. There is no reason to believe that they have not thought of some basic corner cases those are obvious to us.

[gkveda]

A simple semi automatic design as below will be more apt rather than the complex over-engineered algorithm based on engine speed, acceleration input, etc, which can go wrong due to reasons mentioned by others here.

Provide few touch buttons representing various moods like slow and soothing, fast and furious, etc on the display or on steering control.

Classify songs into moods while loading into the system.

Play set of songs based on mood selection.

The design they are thinking of, reminded me a quote in Kannada. "ಬೆಟ್ಟ ತೋಡಿ ಇಲಿ ಹಿಡಿಯುವ ಪ್ರಯತ್ನ" which translates to "Dig a mountain to trap the rat." To get such a small outcome, such a huge complex algorithm is not required.

[GTO]

Originally Posted by RahulNagaraj

Bentley cars now come with the ability to compose an instrumental soundtrack in real-time, based on the driver's inputs and driving style.

100 bucks says the opposite is true as well. Music can actually influence your driving style. On the highway, play some fast / techno / hip hop music and compare it with driving on slow songs. I can guarantee you that you will be driving harder with more aggressive songs.

Outside of driving, in my office too, I prefer to keep fast-paced music in the background. It keeps me sharp & active.

[vredesbyrd]

So essentially, a Bentley with this update will start playing God Hates Us All by Slayer the moment you stop at a traffic light in Lucknow/Bangalore or get surrounded by unruly two-wheelers?

Originally Posted by GTO

Outside of driving, in my office too, I prefer to keep fast-paced music in the background. It keeps me sharp & active.

That certainly helps when driving or being on the road anyway. But parents start to glare at it and go "you cannot concentrate while listening to that!". They always insist on soothing music that puts one to sleep. So to end the argument, I never use music when with parents in the car.

[sramanat]

This is probably one of the most pointless inventions to come in cars. What fraction of Bentleys are chauffer driven? I am guessing in the vicinity of 50%. Wouldn't it then play music as per the chauffer's style which the owner may not enjoy? Rather for the money, if it can play music as per the vitals (ECG, heart rate etc.) read from one of the many wearables in the market, that's something.

Don't get me wrong. They probably invested a few millions in fine tuning the algorithm with math/stat/AI experts and under the hood it may be an awesome invention. Just that the use case makes no sense.

[H Karter]

At last somebody heard my wish!

Ever since I had played the 'janam samjha karo' song from the movie in full blast some 15 years back in car, I was longing for the technology to take shape.

Just listen to the song from 0:10 and its like it corresponded to acceleration and gear changes:

https://youtu.be/i978MtcO33A

Hoping for an OBD dongle that would stream via bluetooth!
That's very wishful!