Yokohama Rubber has developed and begun full-scale operation of a proprietary generative AI system using RAG (retrieval-augmented generation), which searches various technical documents accumulated internally and presents responses based on their content. This new system reportedly accelerates and enhances tire development by providing rapid and accurate access to technical information necessary for decision-making during the tire development process, including material development.
Yokohama Rubber developed this new system to expand the practical environment of its proprietary HAICoLab AI utilization framework, which was established in October 2020. The company has previously developed AI systems that predict a rubber compound’s physical properties and tire characteristics, generate new rubber compounds, and support mold design, and is increasingly using data to create material and tire designs.
The technical knowledge (domain knowledge) that developers need to make decisions during the tire development process can be found in a vast array of technical documents, including regulatory documents, procedure manuals, technical reports and case studies. Until now, creating a system that can quickly search this vast collection of data and provide information appropriate to development objectives and circumstances has been a challenge.
Yokohama Rubber development staff use this new system to input questions tailored to the development’s objectives and situation, and the generative AI searches internal technical documents for the most relevant information and provides responses based on that content.
The development staff have also created a mechanism by which an AI agent grasps the intent of questions and enhances the accuracy of its response by autonomously repeating the process of planning searches, retrieving information and evaluating the results. Additionally, with the system displaying links to the original documents that serve as the basis for responses, development staff can verify the basis and appropriateness of those responses and use them in interpretation and decision-making. This has added a new mechanism that uses domain knowledge accumulated by AI in technical documents, thereby expanding the tire development environment based on HAICoLab.
Along with the development of these AI systems, Yokohama Rubber is training DX staff to use HAICoLab.
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