IBM, Dallara to advance AI and quantum-powered design for vehicles

IBM and Italy’s Dallara Group, a racing and high-performance vehicle manufacturer, have announced a collaboration to advance vehicle design and optimization using AI and explore the use of quantum computing. 

The work combines Dallara’s expertise in high-performance vehicle engineering with IBM’s expertise in AI for physics and quantum computing to investigate how to accelerate aerodynamic design and open a path to even more advanced simulation workflows, IBM said in a press release.

As part of the project, IBM has been developing domain-specific foundation models in close coordination with Dallara. In a future step, the teams aim to integrate validated measurements of real vehicles in wind tunnels and on the track, but the use of high-quality simulation data alone is already producing compelling early results. 

“Racing has taught Dallara that there are two possible outcomes: you either win or are forced to learn,” said Andrea Pontremoli, Dallara CEO. “IBM’s close collaboration on this innovative project is a testament to Dallara’s willingness to continuously push its boundaries and never stop learning.” 

“Some of the hardest engineering challenges come down to accurately simulating the physical world,” said Alessandro Curioni, IBM Fellow and VP, Algorithms and Applications, IBM Research. “With Dallara, IBM is applying AI to speed up aerodynamic design today while advancing quantum computing in parallel to push simulation farther. Together, these technologies can help engineers move faster, explore more possibilities, and ultimately design better-performing vehicles.”