Israeli researchers have proposed an interactive digital twin framework for smart product management and testing, using vehicles as a case study to demonstrate how the technology can predict and optimise performance, reliability, sustainability and customer satisfaction.
The conceptual study, published in Frontiers in Artificial Intelligence, introduces the digital twin cockpit concept to marketing, arguing that the technology can transform traditional products into smart ones through bilateral interdependency between physical objects and their virtual counterparts.
Matto Rachamim from Bar-Ilan University’s Graduate School of Business Administration and Jacob Hornik from Tel-Aviv University’s Coller School of Management developed the framework by integrating the Technology Acceptance Model with the five-dimensional digital twin model, enhanced by human-in-the-loop capabilities.
Digital twins are virtual representations of physical objects or systems continuously updated with real-time data collected from their physical counterparts. Interactive digital twins add an engagement layer, allowing users to interact with the models whilst learning and adapting from outcomes and recommendations.
Volvo leads the way
The researchers cited Volvo’s use of digital twins to create virtual replicas for testing materials and aerodynamics of new vehicle designs. “Volvo, the renowned automobile company for ensuring the best passenger safety uses digital twins,” wrote the authors. “They create virtual replicas to test and try out different materials and aerodynamics of new vehicle designs as well as in-vehicle communication components. This way, they can choose the ideal design that would improve performance, create fuel-efficient models, and enhance passenger satisfaction.”
The proposed digital twin cockpit provides a graphical user interface for visualising data organised in digital shadows and models, enabling stakeholders to access, adapt and add information whilst monitoring and partially controlling the physical product. “The cockpit is an information processing device that facilitates interaction between all items and stakeholders based on advances in human-machine interfaces,” wrote the authors.
The framework incorporates human-in-the-loop capabilities, integrating human supervision along with expert knowledge and experience into interactive digital twins. “The ‘human-in-the-loop’ concept is also known as interactive analytics, in which analytic algorithms occasionally consult human experts for feedback and course correction,” wrote the authors. The approach proves crucial in situations where AI systems cannot make decisions autonomously due to complexity, uncertainty or ethical considerations typical in the automotive industry.
The study examined interactive digital twins for smart vehicles, which exchange information with other vehicles and infrastructure, whilst smartphone sensors and individual user device sensors boost available vehicle data. Tesla and Volvo reportedly integrate digital twin technologies into every car they produce, with Tesla’s partner company Thinkwik asserting that real-time mechanical issues are fixed by downloading over-the-air software updates.
Vehicle interactive digital twins allow analysis of individual driving habits, optimising vehicle performance based on actual usage patterns with external source data, including weather and traffic, visual analytics, automatic speech recognition and advanced driver assistance systems software for detecting possible future threats.
The researchers proposed that interactive digital twins enable driver-vehicle interaction using conduct-by-wire vehicle guidance, where primary driving tasks, including braking, accelerating and steering, are assigned to the vehicle, with the driver’s input automatically converted into a movement vector.
Addressing real-time challenges
The framework addresses real-time synchronisation challenges through fog and edge computing architectures, enabling local data processing to reduce transmission delays. Adaptive buffering strategies support resilience against fluctuating data loads, whilst standardised communication protocols enhance interoperability across diverse devices.
The authors acknowledged challenges, including data privacy and security concerns, noting that AI-enabled interactive digital twins remain in nascent stages. They called for future research into accuracy measures, data integration, scalability and user adoption.
“Digital twins are not just a fleeting trend but an essential component of sustainable innovation,” wrote the authors, suggesting the technology will play a central role in addressing smart marketing challenges through unified decision-making and predictive maintenance.
The researchers argued that interactive digital twin development demands collaboration across multiple disciplines, including logistics, marketing, consumer behaviour, data science, computer science and design. They proposed that fog computing, which brings processing power and storage closer to where data is created, will enable real-time data processing and reduced latency for realising the technology’s full potential.
