Like the current Corvette, the next-generation model will be mid-engined. The future of Corvette design was previewed last year with the CX concept. AI helps GM designers bring sketches to life with detailed animations. The C8 Chevrolet Corvette is into its seventh year on the market, which means the engineers in Michigan are already well past the napkin stage on whatever comes next. And when the follow-up finally arrives, it will carry the fingerprints of artificial intelligence. Recently, NBC News visited GM’s Technical Center in Warren, Michigan, with CEO Mary Barra as the guide, and came away with a look at some of the AI tools the company leans on. During the segment, a low-slung, mid-engined Corvette appears on screen, and while it has fueled speculation that this could be our first look at the C9 Corvette, it is, in fact, simply the CX concept that Chevy unveiled last year for Gran Turismo 7. Read: GM’s Designers Were Supposed To Fear AI, Instead They’re Using It To Do What Pencils Can’t Nonetheless, Chevrolet has acknowledged that this vehicle will shape the future of Corvette design. With shapely quarter panels, a short nose, and a wraparound windshield reminiscent of a Koenigsegg, it is a tantalizing prospect. Unfortunately, we’ll probably have to wait a couple of years at the earliest for GM to offer us a proper glimpse of the C9 Corvette. AI Is Helping, Not Replacing As GM explained back in April, it isn’t using artificial intelligence to design vehicles from scratch, contrary to some fears. Designers are still required to sketch vehicles the way they always have, but they can then use AI tools to turn those sketches into detailed renderings and complex 3D animations showing how they’ll look on the road. In addition, GM engineers use a dedicated AI-powered tool that serves as a virtual wind tunnel, allowing designs to be tweaked and perfected in the digital world before anything is actually built. During the interview, Barra insists that AI tools like these don’t mean it will be able to design and produce cars with fewer people, but instead says AI will allow it to do more with the workers that it has.
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