Nissan Deploys AI To Check For Paint Flaws

Artificial Intelligence is pushing the boundaries of what is possible in the automotive sector. One automaker that is benefiting from technological advancements is Japanese carmaker Nissan, which uses artificial intelligence (AI) to detect paint flaws on the cars it assembles at its facilities in the United States.
The Japanese automaker has actually been using a surface verification system called AUTIS for the last three years. At Nissan's Smyrna plant in Tennessee, the automaker reports that this AI-based system has increased defect detection rates by 7%.

The system takes 15,000 pictures of every car as it exits the paint room using high-resolution cameras. Software is then used to analyze those photos in order to find paint flaws. Nissan, however, continues to believe that despite advancements in auto technology, the human element is still very important.
Paint inspection equipment has actually long been used. Nissan started employing robots with lasers to find flaws in the inspection process in 1985, and it has been partially automated ever since. However, this new AI-based system is both far more sophisticated and effective.

According to the automaker, early robots could detect paint flaws as small as 0.3 mm in 45 seconds, but the AUTIS system can detect flaws as small as 0.2 mm in 20 seconds or less. Because the system keeps track of all the flaws and catalogs them, engineers can retrieve data to address recurring paint issues that may be related to the factory's paint application process.

Over 500,000 vehicles at the Smyrna plant have been evaluated by AUTIS thus far. Data from 2022 indicates that this plant produces over 640,000 vehicles annually. Nissan's facilities in Aguascalientes, Mexico, and Canton, Mississippi, also employ the same system.