The Future of Artificial Intelligence in Travel Might Revolve Around a Driverless Minibus

The electric, 3D-printed, self-driving Olli minibus was giving test drives at the IBM World of Watson conference in Las Vegas last month, while passengers asked the onboard Watson artificial intelligence platform for local restaurant recommendations. IBM is betting the company's future on Watson-based cognitive technology and cloud computing for enterprise clients, and it's promoting the bejesus out of Watson across all media channels. The recent 60 Minutes story on the supercomputer, new partnerships with General Motors and Slack, and the slick Watson ads with celebrities like Bob Dylan and Serena Williams, are all driving IBM's messaging storm to make IBM machine learning a household conversation. The company has been slow to push cognitive technology to travel consumers in any gripping way, however, except perhaps for the development of Hilton Worldwide's robot concierge, Connie. IBM's travel division is presently much more focused on improving efficiencies in operations for airlines, railways, and shipping companies, keeping Watson mostly out of view for travelers. Partnerships with attention-grabbing travel technology platforms such as Olli could shift that. Local Motors in Phoenix designed the 12-seat autonomous shuttle bus to look like a lovable soap bar on wheels in an attempt to make it more modern, more fun, and less intimidating to riders of all ages. Olli is already being tested in National Harbor, Maryland, outside Washington, D.C., with the aim of expanding transportation options to the new MGM National Harbor hotel opening next month. Permits are also in place to launch Olli in Miami and Las Vegas in 2017. All three of those are resort cities with neighbor