More and more manufacturers are betting on artificial intelligence to design, manufacture or sell their cars. The Volkswagen concern is gradually equipping its factories with an artificial intelligence system, which allows, in particular, to control the quality of the construction of car bodies.

Following a successful pilot project developed and tested at the Neckarsulm plant, Audi is launching an artificial intelligence system to monitor the quality of spot welding in the car body structure. By the end of the year, three more Volkswagen Group facilities will benefit from the technical infrastructure necessary for the use of artificial intelligence.

Audi: artificial intelligence for quality control

To improve the production process at the Neckarsulm plant, Audi is using artificial intelligence to analyze around 1.5 million spot welds on 300 vehicles per shift. Until now, production workers used ultrasound to manually and randomly check the quality of the contact welding process. This method made it possible to test approximately 5,000 welds per vehicle.

Thanks to artificial intelligence, employees can now control quality more effectively and purposefully, focusing on possible anomalies. Other Volkswagen Group plants are using this technology: the technical infrastructure is being installed at Audi in Brussels, and the Volkswagen plant in Emden as well as the Audi headquarters in Ingolstadt will also benefit from it this year.

Data generated by artificial intelligence can be used to optimize other processes, such as predictive maintenance: “Digitalized assembly lines are at the heart of Audi’s vision of future production: as part of our Factory Production 360 strategy, we will make production at Audi factories around the world even more efficient. In this regard, the use of artificial intelligence in serial production promises enormous potential.”– says Gerd Walker, director of production and logistics at Audi.

Audi: certification process

To ensure compliance with the audit and certification process, the development of artificial intelligence at Volkswagen was carried out in close coordination with the German Association for Quality (DGQ), the Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Engineering (IAO) and the Fraunhofer Institute for Production Engineering. and automation (IPA).

To date, there is no standard or certificate issued by an independent body for artificial intelligence programs: “This means that, for example, in the manufacturing sector, it is possible to convincingly demonstrate how AI-based test results are obtained”Matthias Maier and Andreas Ricker, WPS-Analytics project managers, specify.

As part of the Automotive Initiative 2025 (AI25) launched by Audi, the “WPS-Analytics” project serves as an example. AI25 aims to create a competence network for the transformation and innovation of digital factories: in this way, Audi aims to make production and logistics more flexible and efficient through digitalization. Digital solutions are currently being tested in Neckarsulm to produce vehicles in a real production environment. They will then be rolled out for mass production.

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