Human-Centred Computing News

• Investigating how to manage the transition to autonomous vehicles
• Researchers to ask how machine and human intelligence can be combined
• Jaguar Land Rover and EPSRC fund £2m University of Warwick research

The problems surrounding the introduction of autonomous vehicles on public roads are to be addressed by new research led by the University of Warwick.

Despite progress in recent years the researchers argue that there are many unsolved challenges, not least related to how such cars will be accepted by the public.

Led by Dr Nathan Griffiths, a Royal Society Industry Fellow in the University of Warwick’s Department of Computer Science, who says that:

“The move to autonomous vehicles is most significant transition in motoring for a century, involving the complex tasks inherent to driving becoming increasingly performed by machine. Individual drivers and their cars will form part of wider and smarter urban transport infrastructure, and the cars of the future will need to be both intelligent and cooperative”.

Dr Griffiths and his co-researchers will investigate:

• How to combine machine and human intelligence to optimise driving
• How to manage the traffic environment through the use of big data
• How to coordinate and control autonomous vehicles on public roads

The opportunities to deliver better safety, traffic efficiency, and more productive and pleasant journeys are enormous, but an automotive revolution on this scale faces great challenges for science and society, argue the Warwick researchers.

There has been little prior research on how autonomous vehicles will fit in with today's manually driven cars, how drivers and occupants will interact with them and how they will run safely in our towns, with pedestrians and cyclists.

The research project began following the launch of strategic partnership between Jaguar Land Rover and the EPSRC, who issued a joint call for research proposals that focussed on developing fully autonomous cars: Towards Autonomy - Smart and Connected Control. Dr Griffiths’ project is one of five selected and Jaguar Land Rover will be leading the collaboration with these successful research groups.

The University of Warwick and IBM will offer researchers guidance through the ethical minefield of using big data and real time analytics.

Emma Uprichard associate professor at the University’s Centre for Interdisciplinary Methodologies (CIM), and co-director of the Warwick Q-Step Centre said:

“Researchers are increasingly turning to online tools with little or no ethical guidance other than some vague semblance that it is important to bear in mind basic key principles. Therefore, thanks to IBM, we will be developing online materials that can be used to develop and deliver successful training sessions in this area.”

Money has been granted by the IBM Faculty Awards which is a competitive worldwide programme intended to foster collaboration between researchers at leading universities worldwide and those in IBM research, development and services organisations.

The three day module will be offered to postgraduate students across CIM, Warwick Business School, computer science, Politics and International Studies (PAIS), and sociology as well as other students from a variety of disciplines that are increasingly using big data. Currently researchers gain 'informed consent' and provide assurances concerning privacy, confidentiality and anonymity when using data for studies. However as there is a diverse range of public and interlinked data available online that can be easily ‘scraped’ and ‘mined’ the ethical situation has become more complex.

Dr Uprichard will be working with colleagues Dr Maria Liakata, computer science, and Dr Arne Strauss, Warwick Business School, to develop the three day workshop on ethics of big data and data linkage. The training will be based on a similar module built and delivered by IBM at the University’s Warwick Business School. Work conducted by IBM into big data ethics will be used to shape the course content.

Professor Christina Hughes, the University of Warwick’s pro-vice-chancellor (teaching and learning) said:

“What have we done here at Warwick is demonstrate how important it is that we invest in this big data for the future of social science and for the future of the UK's contribution internationally to cutting edge – and importantly, ethical - data research and teaching more generally.”

Full story available at:
http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/newsandevents/news/new_big_data

The Alan Turing Institute and Intel have agreed to form a long term strategic partnership to deliver a research programme focussed on high-performance computing and data analytics.

Researchers from both organisations will work together on the programme alongside co-funded research fellows and software engineers.

Launched this month at the British Library, the Alan Turing Institute research team includes members of the University of Warwick’s Departments of Statistics, Computer Science, Institute of Mathematics, Warwick Data Science Institute, and WMG’s Cyber Security Centre.

In addition, Intel will dedicate a hardware architecture team at the Institute’s facilities so that new algorithms developed by The Alan Turing Institute feed into the design of Intel’s future generations of microprocessors.

As well as conducting research, the partnership will train a new generation of data scientists through The Alan Turing Institute’s doctoral programme, ensuring students are equipped with the latest data science techniques, tools, and methodologies.

Minister for Universities and Science, Jo Johnson

Government is committed to ensuring the UK is the best place in Europe to innovate, patent new ideas and start a business. Big data offers huge potential for innovation which is why Government invested £42m in The Alan Turing Institute to secure the UK’s future in this important field.

I welcome this new strategic partnership with Intel which is testament to the strength of the UK’s research base and an exciting opportunity for growth in our digital economy.

Professor Andrew Blake, Director of The Alan Turing Institute

Intel is a global leader in computing innovation and I am delighted that it has become a strategic partner. This is a great development for the Institute and for data science globally.

Alan Turing was one of the first people to build an electronic computer. The partnership with Intel means that, true to his legacy, the Institute named after him will be contributing to the design of future generations of computers.

The goal of The Alan Turing Institute is to drive scientific and technological discoveries in the use of big data and algorithms, which will create new business opportunities, and accelerate solutions to global challenges. We have, today, taken a significant step towards that goal.

Christian Morales, Corporate Vice President, General Manager Intel EMEA

The Data Scientist is a very captivating and crucial job of the 21st century. With the right combination of people and technology, Big Data has the potential to solve big problems in public health, medicine, science, agriculture and engineering. We are committed to helping The Alan Turing Institute develop a fertile breeding ground for data scientists, with the greater purpose of driving critical data analytics across all industries.

The Alan Turing Institute is a joint venture between the universities of Warwick, Cambridge, Edinburgh, Oxford, UCL and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC). The Institute will promote the development and use of advanced mathematics, computer science, algorithms and big data for human benefit.