Image Classification Models as a Balancer Between Product Typicality and Novelty

Car styling is crucial for consumer acceptance and market success. Since vehicle manufacturers produce electric vehicles, they have faced the challenge of maintaining the typicality of their original products and presenting the innovation of new technologies. We propose a method that integrates arti...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Hung-Hsiang Wang, Hsueh-Kuan Chen
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2025-02-01
Series:Engineering Proceedings
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2673-4591/89/1/21
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1839654129189781504
author Hung-Hsiang Wang
Hsueh-Kuan Chen
author_facet Hung-Hsiang Wang
Hsueh-Kuan Chen
author_sort Hung-Hsiang Wang
collection DOAJ
description Car styling is crucial for consumer acceptance and market success. Since vehicle manufacturers produce electric vehicles, they have faced the challenge of maintaining the typicality of their original products and presenting the innovation of new technologies. We propose a method that integrates artificial intelligence (AI)-generated images and image classification technology to help designers effectively balance between typicality and novelty. We collected 118 pictures of electric vehicles and 122 pictures of fuel vehicles in 2024 from the BMW official website. Focusing on seven key visual features of the vehicles, we used the Waikato environment for knowledge analysis (WEKA) to train an image classification model on the dataset through three separate training and testing sessions. First, we used the prompts that described typical BMW design to generate images of new BMW electric vehicles in Stable Diffusion. The images consisted of 21 front views, 20 side views, and 20 rear views. The accuracy of the model of front views trained with the pyramid histogram of oriented gradients filter (PHOG)-Filter and random forest classifier was 78.5%, and the test accuracy reached 95%. The accuracy of the model of rear views trained with BinaryPatternsPyramid-Filter and random forest classifier was 80.5%, and the test accuracy was 90%. However, the accuracy of the model of side views did not reach 70%. That implies the distinction between BMW fuel vehicles and its electric vehicles is mainly based on the front and rear views, rather than the side view. The results of this study showed that integrating image classification and AI-generated images can be used to examine the balance between product typicality and novelty, and the application of machine learning and AI tools to study car style.
format Article
id doaj-art-f4e98fd4442f4057a5040c64c1e8d9a3
institution Matheson Library
issn 2673-4591
language English
publishDate 2025-02-01
publisher MDPI AG
record_format Article
series Engineering Proceedings
spelling doaj-art-f4e98fd4442f4057a5040c64c1e8d9a32025-06-25T13:47:10ZengMDPI AGEngineering Proceedings2673-45912025-02-018912110.3390/engproc2025089021Image Classification Models as a Balancer Between Product Typicality and NoveltyHung-Hsiang Wang0Hsueh-Kuan Chen1Department of Industrial Design, National Taipei University of Technology, Taipei 10608, TaiwanDepartment of Industrial Design, National Taipei University of Technology, Taipei 10608, TaiwanCar styling is crucial for consumer acceptance and market success. Since vehicle manufacturers produce electric vehicles, they have faced the challenge of maintaining the typicality of their original products and presenting the innovation of new technologies. We propose a method that integrates artificial intelligence (AI)-generated images and image classification technology to help designers effectively balance between typicality and novelty. We collected 118 pictures of electric vehicles and 122 pictures of fuel vehicles in 2024 from the BMW official website. Focusing on seven key visual features of the vehicles, we used the Waikato environment for knowledge analysis (WEKA) to train an image classification model on the dataset through three separate training and testing sessions. First, we used the prompts that described typical BMW design to generate images of new BMW electric vehicles in Stable Diffusion. The images consisted of 21 front views, 20 side views, and 20 rear views. The accuracy of the model of front views trained with the pyramid histogram of oriented gradients filter (PHOG)-Filter and random forest classifier was 78.5%, and the test accuracy reached 95%. The accuracy of the model of rear views trained with BinaryPatternsPyramid-Filter and random forest classifier was 80.5%, and the test accuracy was 90%. However, the accuracy of the model of side views did not reach 70%. That implies the distinction between BMW fuel vehicles and its electric vehicles is mainly based on the front and rear views, rather than the side view. The results of this study showed that integrating image classification and AI-generated images can be used to examine the balance between product typicality and novelty, and the application of machine learning and AI tools to study car style.https://www.mdpi.com/2673-4591/89/1/21AI-generated imageimage classificationcar stylingelectric vehicleproduct typicality
spellingShingle Hung-Hsiang Wang
Hsueh-Kuan Chen
Image Classification Models as a Balancer Between Product Typicality and Novelty
Engineering Proceedings
AI-generated image
image classification
car styling
electric vehicle
product typicality
title Image Classification Models as a Balancer Between Product Typicality and Novelty
title_full Image Classification Models as a Balancer Between Product Typicality and Novelty
title_fullStr Image Classification Models as a Balancer Between Product Typicality and Novelty
title_full_unstemmed Image Classification Models as a Balancer Between Product Typicality and Novelty
title_short Image Classification Models as a Balancer Between Product Typicality and Novelty
title_sort image classification models as a balancer between product typicality and novelty
topic AI-generated image
image classification
car styling
electric vehicle
product typicality
url https://www.mdpi.com/2673-4591/89/1/21
work_keys_str_mv AT hunghsiangwang imageclassificationmodelsasabalancerbetweenproducttypicalityandnovelty
AT hsuehkuanchen imageclassificationmodelsasabalancerbetweenproducttypicalityandnovelty