• WMG at the University of Warwick and leading self-driving technology developer Wayve have received £1.9 million in government funding to lead a research project on AI safety in self-driving vehicles
• This pioneering project, DriveSafeAI, aims to develop scalable methodologies and mechanisms to prove that the use of AI is safe for self-driving vehicles, which national and international self-driving vehicle developers can adapt the findings to their technology developments
• The project supports the UK government’s ambition to make the UK the leader in AI and its vision of deploying self-driving vehicles in 2025

WMG at the University of Warwick and leading self-driving vehicle technology developer Wayve have been awarded £1.9 million to undertake research to ensure the safe use of AI in self-driving vehicles.

This project, DriveSafeAI, is taking the initiative to research and develop scalable mechanisms and methodologies to prove that AI is safe to use in self-driving vehicles. WMG is a world-class research institution with internationally recognised research capabilities in safety assurance of self-driving technologies, combined with Wavye’s expertise in developing end-to-end machine learning for self-driving, a set of evidence- and data-based methods and tools will be developed and made available for global self-driving developers to test their technologies. The research result will help shape the UK's policy and regulatory framework for AI in the future.

Self-driving vehicles can potentially bring £42 billion in economic benefits to the UK. Proving the safety of AI is a crucial step to unlocking this huge market. However, currently, there is no internationally or nationally agreed methodology in place to prove AI is safe to use in self-driving technologies, which hinders the commercialisation of self-driving vehicles. Therefore, this project will create a solution for AI safety assurance and develop societal trust in AI and self-driving technology.

More information about the DriveSafeAI project and the funding

DriveSafeAI is part of CCAV’s Commercialising CAM Supply Chain Competition (CCAMSC).

The Commercialising CAM programme is funded by the Centre for Connected and Automated Vehicles, a joint unit between the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) and the Department for Transport (DfT) and delivered in partnership with Innovate UK and Zenzic.

The £18.5m CCAMSC competition was launched in October 2022 to support the deployment of self-driving vehicles, by strengthening the capabilities of the sovereign UK CAM supply chain and is part of the Government’s vision for self-driving vehicles. Connected and automated mobility 2025: realising the benefits of self-driving vehicles.

Alex Kendall, CEO and Co-founder of Wayve, said: "At Wayve we know that confidence in our technology is crucial to commercialisation and widespread adoption of self-driving vehicles. Leveraging AI, we have the chance to bring the benefits of self-driving vehicles to everyone’s door. But first, securing trust in AI is paramount.

"That’s why we’ve been working closely with government and academia to ensure the methodologies we use to evidence safety are clear and trustworthy. Today, we’re excited to announce a formal partnership with WMG, University of Warwick, global leaders in the safety of artificial intelligence and autonomous systems. DriveSafeAI will give the public and policymakers confidence in this technology, which has the potential to revolutionise transport."

Professor Siddartha Khastgir, Head of Verification & Validation at WMG, University of Warwick, said: "AI – and particularly embodied AI – like self-driving vehicles, is one of the biggest topics currently discussed in society. Deploying this technology safely is essential to realising the huge opportunity AI can offer society.”

“At WMG, through DriveSafeAI we are excited to be partnering with Wayve, a leader in self-driving vehicle technology, to help shape the safe AI landscape in the UK and globally.”

“We believe the safety of this technology needs to be proven collaboratively, in a scalable manner and that future policy should have strong research foundations."

Note to editors

About Wayve

Wayve is on a mission to reimagine autonomous mobility through embodied intelligence. Founded in 2017, Wayve is made up of a global team of experts in machine learning and robotics from top organisations around the world. We were the first to deploy autonomous vehicles on public roads with end-to-end deep learning, pioneering the AI software, lean hardware, and fleet learning platform for AV2.0: a next-generation autonomous driving system that can quickly and safely adapt to new driving domains anywhere in the world.

Wayve has raised over $258M and is backed by Eclipse Ventures, D1 Capital Partners, Baillie Gifford, Moore Strategic Ventures, Balderton Capital, Virgin, and Ocado Group. The team is based in London and California, with a fleet of vehicles testing in cities across the UK. Wayve aims to be the first to deploy autonomy in 100 cities. To learn more, visit www.wayve.ai.

A new international standard has been published which lays the foundations for safe deployment of self-driving vehicles by creating a common approach to define the operating conditions of self-driving vehicles, which is also known as the Operational Design Domain (ODD) (i.e., operating conditions).

Led by Professor Siddartha Khastgir from WMG, University of Warwick, UK, and supported by an international group of experts, the very first international standard for safe operation of self-driving vehicles, Road Vehicles — Test scenarios for automated driving systems — Specification for operational design domain – ISO 34503 has been published. This standard will be relevant to every self-driving vehicle developed and manufactured anywhere in the world. The new standard is based on BSI PAS 1883, developed by BSI the UK National Standards Body.

In simplistic terms, ODD is a definition of where your self-driving vehicle is going to operate. This standard provides specifications for defining these operating conditions in a common manner.

The standard classifies ODD into three key categories:

· Scenery elements: non-movable elements (e.g., roads, bridges, traffic lights),

· Environment conditions: weather and other atmospheric conditions; and

· Dynamic elements: all movable objects and actors.

The importance of the concept of ODD is highlighted in the latest European Union’s Act on Automated Driving System (adopted in Aug 2022) which puts the concept of ODD as a cornerstone of the safety assurance process of an automated vehicle. Similar approaches are being considered at the upcoming regulations at United Nations Economic Commission for Europe.

This international standard is a big step to facilitate the commercialisation of self-driving vehicles in a wider global society while also safeguarding the safety of this emerging technology. International organisations and local governments or regulatory agencies can use this standard as a guide to develop their regulations and policies on self-driving vehicles. Autonomous vehicle developers and manufacturers around the world can now design and test their technology based on internationally aligned safety benchmarks, create accurate marketing and communication materials, and build societal trust in the technology.

WMG in collaboration with BSI committee AUE/15 Safety related to vehicles, worked with global partners in countries such as United States, Germany, Japan, China, France, Austria, Canada, Israel, Sweden, Finland, South Korea, Australia, to develop and finalise the ISO standard for the safety of automated vehicles.

Professor Siddartha Khastgir, Head of Verification & Validation, Intelligent Vehicles said:

“Defining the Operational Design Domain is the first step in designing a safe self-driving vehicle. Furthermore, due to the diversity in stakeholders in this ecosystem (e.g., developers, regulators, local authorities etc.), it is essential we have a common way to define such a fundamental concept of safety.

“Successful standardisation efforts are only possible with true international collaboration. I am grateful to experts from various countries worldwide who have engaged and contributed actively to this standard. I am pleased to see more efforts kick-starting which building on the concept of ODD and this standard.”

This standardization activity is underpinned by strong research outcomes from the CCAV and Innovate UK funded OmniCAV research project by WMG; and also, by the research conducted as part of Professor Khastgir’s UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship.

Nick Fleming, Associate Director, Transport and Mobility, BSI said:

“It’s exciting to see the launch of this new international standard, given the potential benefits that can be realized by testing automated vehicles so they can operate safely on our roads. Having a common language to describe the Operational Design Domain (ODD) of an automated vehicle, with the ODD effectively describing the environment and conditions that an automated vehicle is capable of operating in, will be valuable to test and deploy these vehicles safely.

“This new ISO standard has been inspired by the UK document, BSI PAS 1883:2020, the first taxonomy for ODDs developed in conjunction with UK experts and the government’s Centre for Connected and Automated Vehicles (CCAV).

“BSI would like to thank Professor Khastgir for his effort in helping to lead this work at the international level which, along with BSI PAS 1883, shows the leadership the UK is having in the development of global standardization for automated or self-driving vehicles.”

Sarah Gates, Director of Public Policy at Wayve, said:

“We’re pleased to see the launch of this new international standard. The concept of ODDs is the basis of deploying self-driving vehicles safely. A common way of describing ODDs across industry is therefore vital for creating the highest safety standards, bolstering public trust and supporting the regulatory frameworks required to commercially deploy self-driving technology on a global scale.

“We look forward to continuing to work closely with WMG to ensure that safety standards for self-driving technology are rigorous, and to increase confidence in the exciting technology we’re developing here at Wayve, which will unlock a safer, smarter and more sustainable transport system.”

ISO 34503 was developed by ISO technical committee ISO/TC 22/SC 33 Vehicle dynamics, chassis components and driving automation systems testing.

It can be purchased from your national standardisation body or through the ISO Store.

This standardisation activity is underpinned by strong research outcomes from the CCAV and Innovate UK-funded OmniCAV research project by WMG; and also, by the research conducted as part of Professor Khastgir’s UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship.

NOTE TO EDITORS: Link to ISO 34503: https://www.iso.org/standard/78952.html

Media contact: Annie Slinn, Communications Officer (Sciences), Annie.Slinn@warwick.ac.uk | Caitlin Evans, WMG Marketing and Communications Executive, Caitlin.Evans@warwick.ac.uk

Researchers from WMG, at the University of Warwick, were pleased to welcome partners and guests to a live trial and project workshop on the AirQKD project.

AirQKD addresses the cyber security of Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (CAV) and specifically addresses components, manufacturing, software, and testing for last-mile Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) systems between shared parties for 5G and connected cars.

It is an Innovate UK funded collaboration between BT; Lexden Technologies; OLC; Duality, Bristol University; Fraunhofer Centre for Applied Photonics; Strathclyde University; WMG; Bay Photonics; Heriot Watt University; Angoka; ArQit; Nu Quantum; National Physical Laboratory; CSA Catapult and Edinburgh University.

The trial combines BT’s expertise in building quantum-secure networks using QKD – an essentially un-hackable, cutting-edge technique for sharing encryption ‘keys’ between locations using a stream of single photons) with other new techniques for applying quantum security to mobile devices, developed by UK start-ups Nu Quantum, Angoka and Duality.

On the University of Warwick campus, as part of the Midlands Future Mobility testbed, WMG has created a Vehicle to Infrastructure (V2I) testing facility enabling AirQKD partners’ technology in key management, key consumption, and security protocols to be used for secure communications.

The AirQKD system implements Free Space Optics (FSO) cryptographic key generation and standards-compliant key management. WMG is now managing the workstream between telecommunications (4G/5G cellular at BT’s Adastral Park site) and V2I communications on the University of Warwick campus. In combination, these technologies will be used to deliver an ultra-secure link between connected 5G towers and mobile devices, as well as to connected cars.

Find out more about CAV research at WMG here: https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/wmg/research/cav/connectivity/

Read more about AirQKD here: https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/wmg/research/transformation/securecybersystems/projects

New research by WMG at the University of Warwick has identified characteristics of aggressive driving – which impact both road users and the transition to self-driving cars of the future.

In the first study to systematically identify aggressive driving behaviours, scientists have measured the changes in driving that occur in an aggressive state. Aggressive drivers drive faster and with more mistakes than non-aggressive drivers – putting other road users at risk and posing a challenge to researchers working on self-driving car technology.

The research comes as a leading Detective Chief Superintendent, Andy Cox, warns of the perils of such driving – warning that the four-five deaths on UK roads daily are “predominantly caused by dangerous and reckless drivers”.

The study categorised aggressive driving behaviours and showed the key aspects of this dangerous driving style. Published in Accident Analysis and Prevention, it reported key findings:

• Aggressive drivers have a 5km/h mean faster speed than non-aggressive drivers;
  
  
• Aggressive drivers also exhibit more mistakes than control groups – such as not indicating when changing lanes;
  
  
• Aggressive driving is categorised as any driving behaviour that intentionally endangers others psychologically, physically, or both.
  
  

Lead author of the study Zhizhuo Su, PhD student, across both the Intelligent Vehicles Research Group and the Institute of Digital Healthcare at WMG, University of Warwick, said: “While it’s unethical to let aggressive drivers loose on the roads, participants were asked to recall angry memories, putting them in an aggressive state, while performing a driving simulation. These were compared to a control group, who weren’t feeling aggressive.

“This research is significant because, as the era of autonomous vehicles approaches, road traffic will be a mix of both autonomous and non-autonomous vehicles, driven by people that may engaged in aggressive driving. This is the first study to characterise aggressive driving behaviour quantitatively in a systematic way, which may help the autonomous vehicles identify potential aggressive driving in the surrounding environment."

Roger Woodman, Assistant Professor at WMG and co-author of the study, added: “Over the last few decades, road safety policies, infrastructure changes, and improved vehicle safety have significantly reduced road casualties. However, human error, which is often a result of aggressive driving, remains a leading cause of crashes. To make driving safer, our research focuses on methods for understanding the state of the driver, to identify risky driving behaviours, through the use of driver monitoring systems (DMS). This will enable the driver to be alerted when they are at an increased risk of an accident and allow the vehicle to deploy calming methods, such as altering the cabin noise level, playing relaxing music, or ultimately reducing the speed of the vehicle.”

Detective Chief Superintendent Andy Cox, NPCC lead for fatal crash investigation and OCU Commander at the Metropolitan Police, added: ‘In the UK, on average between four-five people die every single day in a road crash. This widespread devastation is predominantly caused by dangerous and reckless drivers. Having met many bereaved families who live with the lifelong heartache of prematurely losing a loved one in such a violent manner, I recognise the need to instigate substantial change across the road safety sphere; which includes driving culture, standards and legislative options.

“Those drivers who choose to commit road crimes such as aggressive driving, intimidating other sensible and safe road users – should recognise the risk they pose to themselves and others, and frankly the law should remember that a driving licence is assigned after a person demonstrates themselves to be safe and earns the right to drive. We should seek to maintain high standards and ensure the system sees the right to drive as a privilege rather than an entitlement. Currently I think the balance favours the individual rather than the law abiding collective.”

Read the full paper here.

Ends

University of Warwick press office contact:

Annie Slinn
Communications Officer | Press & Media Relations | Email: annie.slinn@warwick.ac.uk

A new report led by academics at WMG at the University of Warwick, proposes a ground-breaking safety assurance framework that has the potential to be applied across automated transport modes.

The new report is the result of Warwick’s extensive safety research which has undergone 12 months of evolution, development and validation with key stakeholders across the transport domains of land, sea and air.

Over the past year, 35 organisations in industry, academia, government and regulation from the UK and internationally have contributed to the discussions which have been captured in the report. The report encourages Government policy to tackle similar challenges all three domains face to realise the safe introduction of automated transport systems, in a joined-up manner.

The Cross Domain Safety Report highlights the economic potential of the global automated transport ecosystem, which is projected to reach over £750 billion by 2035, with a UK market share of approximately 6% representing £42 billion and creating up to 38,000 new jobs.

When it comes to safety assurance of automated transport systems, the report suggests the need to not only establish the safety level of automated transport, but also to communicate the safety level to all stakeholders (society, regulators, policymakers, developers etc).

Communicating safety level is key as one of the main obstacles to the safe introduction and consumer acceptance of automated transport are safety and trust, according to this new research. The report contains a set of key recommendations which include standardised definitions, new processes for virtual test environments, a new scalable and manageable safety assurance framework, and the key role of independent organisations.

The report highlights that whilst there are differences between the safety assurance processes of autonomous ships, aircraft or vehicles there are also large elements of crossover. This can then be leveraged by governments, developers and manufacturers by aligning safety artifacts across the different types of transport, allowing for greater safety and consumer acceptance.

Ian Stewart MP, Chair of the Commons Transport Select Committee said: “It’s important that we look ahead and horizon scan at emerging technologies… We’ve got to look ahead to make sure the regulations are in place.

“It’s really interesting that this conference looked at these issues holistically because it’s very easy in the world of transport to look at each mode as if it existed in isolation, but there will be cross cutting issues”.

Professor Siddartha Khastgir, Head of Verification and Validation at WMG, University of Warwick, commented: “Safety of automated systems needs to be pre-competitive. At WMG, we are extremely grateful to all the contributors to the report who have come on this journey with us over the past 12 months.

"Capturing the collective intellectual output of the group, we have demonstrated in the report on cross domain safety assurance across land, air and marine, that there are a lot of synergies in the approaches across the transport domains. At the same time, there are certain aspects that will be very specific to the domains that should be tackled individually.”

The full report can be read here.

WMG, at the University of Warwick, and Conigital, have been awarded a share of £81 million in joint UK government and industry support to develop self-driving transport technology.

WMG is part of a consortium, led by Conigital, including the NEC Birmingham, Direct Line Group, Coventry City Council, Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council, Coventry University, dRisk, IPG Automotive and West Midlands Combined Authority.

The project entitled Multi-Area Connected Automated Mobility (MACAM) has been awarded a total of £16.6 million by the Centre for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (CCAV), to establish a remote driving control hub, to oversee self-driving vehicles operating in Solihull and Coventry.

To make self-driving vehicle operations commercially viable, and offset current technology and driver costs, they must operate as efficiently as possible. This project therefore proposes a multi-area, multi-application self-driving operation, underpinned by Conigital’s 5G-based, central, Remote Monitoring Teleoperation (RMTO) system.

A mixed fleet of 13 self-driving vehicles will be moving passengers and light freight (such as mail and parcels for delivery) between Birmingham International Rail Station and Birmingham Business Park, and between Coventry railway station and Coventry University campus. These routes have a known, current, need for alternative transport and offer an ideal platform from which to develop commercial self-driving solutions.

New mobility technology and services will lead to safer, greener and more efficient transportation for both people and goods. MACAM will build on the foundations set by other projects including the WMG-led Midlands Future Mobility consortium.

Midlands Future Mobility is installing infrastructure on 200+ miles of West Midland’s roads to enable trials of Connected and Automated Mobility (CAM) solutions. This includes CCTV, weather stations, communications units, and highly accurate GPS coverage. The technology developed on the route will make UK roads safer and allow for more predictable goods delivery and journey times.

Transport Secretary Mark Harper said: “Self-driving vehicles including buses will positively transform people’s everyday lives – making it easier to get around, access vital services and improve regional connectivity.

“We’re supporting and investing in the safe rollout of this incredible technology to help maximise its full potential, while also creating skilled jobs and boosting growth in this important sector.”

WMG’s expertise on MACAM focuses specifically on the safety of the self-driving vehicles, as David Evans, Lead Engineer at WMG, University of Warwick explains: “Researchers and engineers at WMG will be providing trial support and undertaking related research in line with industry standards and best practice, required for the operator(s) to conduct the automated vehicle deployments safely and securely.”

Director of Intelligent Vehicles Research at WMG, University of Warwick, Professor Mehrdad Dianati, adds: “We have seen remarkable progress in Connected and Automated/Autonomous Mobility Technologies in recent years. It is paramount to pave the way for commercialising these technologies, particularly in the promising near future application areas such as the ones the MACAM consortium aims for. We are excited to be a part of this journey to transfer the knowledge we have developed through our fundamental research to help this unique consortium of UK companies, universities and local authorities to create new economic development opportunities for the region and the country.”

Don Dhaliwal, CEO of Conigital commented: “We are delighted to strengthen our links with WMG and other partners to accelerate a joint vision of Autonomous, Connected, Electric & Shared (ACES) fleets to address cities and businesses needs to Go Zero, Zero Accidents, Zero Emissions and Zero Congestion whilst creating new jobs via delivery of sustainable, accessible commercial CAM (Connected Autonomous Mobility) services.”

The methodologies and outcomes generated by the MACAM project will directly benefit teaching, research, and further collaboration with industry at WMG, developing future UK expertise and capability.

Read more about WMG’s Intelligent Vehicles research here and Conigital here

Read more about WMG’s MSc Smart, Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (SCAV) here.

Read more about the latest Centre for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (CCAV) funded self-driving projects here.

ENDS

Notes to Editors

The government is awarding almost £42 million to seven projects through the Centre for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (CCAV) Commercialising Connected and Automated Mobility (CAM) competition. Industry consortia will match the public grant to around £81 million and will be expected to demonstrate a sustainable commercial service by 2025.

The Multi-Area Connected Automated Mobility project is part of CCAV’s Commercialising CAM Deployments Competition (CCAMD).

The Commercialising CAM programme is funded by the Centre for Connected and Automated Vehicles, a joint unit between the Department for Transport and the Department for Business and Trade and delivered in partnership with Innovate UK and Zenzic.

The £40m CCAMD competition was launched in May 2022 to support the delivery of early commercialisable Connected and Automated Mobility Services and is part of the Government’s vision for self-driving vehicles. Connected and automated mobility 2025: realising the benefits of self-driving vehicles.

Multi-Area Connected Automated Mobility– Conigital
£8.3 million awarded by government, matched by industry to a total £15.2 million. This project looks to establish a self-driving vehicle operation around various parts of the West Midlands, underpinned by a centralised, Remote Monitoring Teleoperation (RMTO) centre. The RMTO centre will be where the project’s self-driving vehicles are monitored and (when required) controlled from, using 5G connectivity. The project aims to make self-driving vehicle operations commercially viable, and offset current technology and driver costs.

As part of the AutopleX (Autonomous Cars Negotiating Complex Environments Using V2X) project consortium, researchers at WMG, University of Warwick, have used a connected smart roadside infrastructure and onboard vehicle systems to demonstrate how to enhance the vision and perception of future autonomous vehicles to achieve safer and more comfortable manoeuvres along high-speed junctions, such as motorway merges.

The Centre for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (CCAV) and Innovate UK have jointly funded £2.6m for the collaborative R&D project AutopleX between March 2019 and September 2022.

AutopleX brought together WMG and leading automotive and mobility management partners Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) and Yunex Traffic, as well as public bodies such as Transport for West Midlands (TfWM) and National Highways.

Supported by the WMG Centre High Value Manufacturing Catapult, engineers and researchers at WMG have built a proof-of-concept demonstrator, where technology within a test vehicle (also known as “the EGO vehicle”) including Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS), LiDAR and cameras, was fused with infrastructure-based sensing received over a Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X) communication system. This created a more comprehensive understanding of the environment in which the vehicle was travelling.

Colin Teed, AutopleX Project Manager at Jaguar Land Rover, stressed that: “Merging at high-speed junctions will be a standard action autonomous vehicles must perform and constitutes an important step in realising the vision of connected and automated mobility.”

Professor Mehrdad Dianati, Head of Intelligent Vehicles Research at WMG, added: “Onboard sensors may suffer from several limitations such as occlusions, limited range, and other forms of impairments. Especially at motorway junctions, where the speed of vehicles is usually high, undetected traffic objects by the onboard sensor suite can impose severe threats on safety. Onboard perception can, therefore, become insufficient as a standalone solution for level 4 autonomy. In this regard, the AutopleX project has developed a proof-of-concept solution that combines, in real-time, the onboard perception of a connected vehicle approaching a motorway with infrastructure-based sensing for supporting a safe merge.”

The AutopleX showcase demonstration took place via a live road traffic environment at Junction 15 of the M40 in March 2022. Yunex Traffic developed the roadside perception system, including three radars and V2X communication technology, while National Highways ensured its safe installation and effective operation.

Jet Feng, Project Engineer at WMG, explained: “The roadside perception including the locations, speed and steering angle of motorway vehicles was continuously broadcast (in the form of collective perception messages (CPMs)) and received by the vehicle’s onboard communication unit (OBU) on the Open Innovation Vehicle Platform whilst approaching the merging point of the junction. The received information was then combined with the onboard perception to improve the overall understanding of the environment and was visualised in real-time via a bird’s eye view map of the junction, allowing the passengers to observe road traffic objects along the M40, which were not otherwise visible due to occlusions.”

Furthermore, WMG and Jaguar Land Rover researchers jointly developed intelligent trajectory-planning algorithms, which utilised the combined perception to design a high-speed merging manoeuvre that is efficient, smooth, and safe.

Dr Konstantinos Koufos, Senior Research Fellow at WMG, commented: “While the Open Innovation Vehicle Platform was driven by a human driver, the calculated trajectory, including speed and steering, of a hypothetical vehicle using the combined perception was visualised in real-time on the in-vehicle monitors. This allowed the passengers to compare the trajectory of the hypothetical (or ghost) vehicle with the actual trajectory of the human-driven vehicle. Key performance indicators (KPIs) associated with road safety and passenger comfort were also calculated and compared during the merging manoeuvre. The next major step would be to engage the calculated trajectory of the ghost vehicle with the drive-by-wire system of the Open Innovation Vehicle Platform.”

The project successfully implemented and demonstrated the developed technology, collecting, annotating and processing vast datasets including over eight months of road traffic data using 10 infrastructure cameras and three RADARs. These datasets could be made available to selected organisations outside of the AutopleX consortium for user trials and feedback. In addition, it constitutes valuable R&D data that can be used in WMG’s Doctoral Training Centre in Future Mobility Technologies, as well as WMG’s MSc programme in Smart Connected and Automated Vehicles (SCAV).

Learn more about the vehicle used in the demonstration: https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/wmg/research/cav/ivfac/catapult-open-innovation-vehicle/

Explore research in WMG’s Intelligent Vehicles Group: https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/wmg/research/cav/

Innovate UK: https://www.ukri.org/councils/innovate-uk/

Centre for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/centre-for-connected-and-autonomous-vehicles

WMG High Value Manufacturing Catapult:

https://hvm.catapult.org.uk/centre/wmg/

A PhD student, from WMG at the University of Warwick, is heading to Egypt this week for COP27.

Shravani Sharma, who is studying for a PhD in Travel Choices and Wellbeing, is heading to the climate summit as the Youth Transport Fellow for High Level Climate Champions UNFCCC, a role centred on building momentum towards an accelerated transition to zero emission vehicles.

Shravani’s work has always focused on the transport sector (which is responsible for a quarter of global greenhouse gas emissions), and on persuading policymakers, operators and the public of the benefits of cleaner and healthier modes of transport supported by evidence-based research and analysis.

She will be sharing her expertise at the “Youth on the move: Young people and transport in the 21st century” session on 10th November and at several other events.

Shravani, who is part of WMG’s Intelligent Vehicles Research Group, explained: "In a world where we are striving to adopt more sustainable forms of transport, it is paramount that our transportation systems and policies are designed to enable modal shift and promote positive travel behaviour.

“I was not even aware that transport planning was a career! I fell into it by accident after taking a module on planning infrastructure and found it not only fascinating, but so rewarding as it impacts the real world and real life. I I grew up watching TV shows about doctors in hospital environments and law firms where the protagonists save the world, which made me want to be a doctor or lawyer coming from an aspirational cultural background. I feel there should be more movies and TV shows made to inspire the upcoming generations to showcase the importance of city and transport planners, and use the power of media for positive drum rolling.

“If our towns and cities are the hearts of the nation, contributing to most of the economic activities, then transport infrastructure is our arteries. Therefore, to ensure good health of the nation we should ensure these arteries are clear of congestion, pollution, accidents etc. “

You can register for ‘Youth on the move: Young people and transport in the 21st century’ here: Youth on the move: Young people and transport in the 21st century (oecd-events.org)

Read more about WMG’s latest sustainability news here: WMG :: News (warwick.ac.uk)

Dr Siddartha Khastgir, Head of Verification and Validation of Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (CAVs) at WMG at the University of Warwick, is working on a series of workshops to define a universal framework for autonomous vehicle safety that can apply to any mode of transport.

Dr Khastgir’s workshops, in partnership with the Department for Transport and Lloyds Register, focus on identifying the differences and similarities in safety scenarios faced by different sectors to create a cohesive safety framework.

Watch How safe is safe enough? : land, sea and air and read the Cross Domain Safety Assurance Framework for Automated Transport Systems report: to find out more.

• Safety Pool™, led by WMG at the University of Warwick and Deepen AI, launches public access to the over 250,000 scenarios via a credit system
• Organisations can now earn credits for their scenario contributions to the database
• Credits can be used to access the entire set of scenarios in the database
• UK’s Vehicle Certification Agency is evaluating the use of Safety PoolTM as part of future type approvals of Automated Vehicles

Leading experts at WMG at the University of Warwick and Deepen AI, have launched credit-based access to the largest public store of scenarios for testing automated vehicles. The Safety Pool™ Scenario Database, features over 250,000 different scenarios. WMG and Deepen AI are also working with regulators internationally to help evaluate the safety of Automated Vehicles using the Safety PoolTM Scenario Database.

Safety remains one of the biggest challenges around self-driving vehicles. Driven by Safety PoolTM ’s vision of safety of self-driving vehicles being pre-competitive, the Safety PoolTM Scenario Database has created an ecosystem to enable sharing of test scenarios amongst organisations worldwide.

The database provides a large range of scenarios in different operational design domains (ODDs i.e., operating conditions) that can be leveraged by governments, industry, and academia alike to test and benchmark Automated Driving Systems (ADSs). Bolstered by scenarios generated by novel scenario generation methods: 1) knowledge-based and 2) data-based, a methodology also mentioned by the EU’s Regulatory Act on Automated Driving Systems, scenarios in Safety PoolTM are focused on uncovering failures in automated vehicles as they capture those edge-case scenarios.

Under the credit system, users are rewarded with credits for submitting scenarios to the database. Contributions are scored based on uniqueness of the scenarios and their validity, and corresponding credits are awarded to the organisation. These credits can be redeemed to gain access to more scenarios. This system encourages users to contribute to growing the database and making more scenarios available to the self-driving vehicle community.

Dr Siddartha Khastgir, Head of Verification & Validation, at WMG, University of Warwick, said: “With the public launch of the Safety Pool™ Scenario Database, we are democratizing critical data that was not easily available in the ecosystem. By aligning with international standards and working closely with regulators and developers in the UK and internationally, we are driven by the mission of making safety of automated vehicles pre-competitive.”

Jamie McFaden, Head of Automated Vehicle Technologies Group, Vehicle Certification Agency said: “The Vehicle Certification Agency, the UK’s Type Approval Authority, recognises the importance of ODD based testing and as a result is evaluating the use of Safety PoolTM Scenario Database as part of the Type Approval process for Automated Driving Systems.”

Coherent with our mission to align with international standards, today, each scenario has been launched in ASAM OpenScenario 1.1 and ASAM OpenDRIVE 1.6 formats. This provides further interoperability between stakeholders using ASAM OpenX standards for their simulation-based testing of automated vehicles.

The scenarios also cover a diverse set of ODD attributes and manoeuvre types such as urban environments, highways, and under varied environmental conditions where vehicles perform different manoeuvres such as cut-ins, overtaking etc. Use cases supported include Automated Lane Keeping Systems, low-speed shuttle, urban level 4, highway ADAS etc. Scenarios can also be efficiently searched using the ODD and Behaviour tags as per ASAM OpenLabel standard.

With Safety Pool™, industry, academic, industry and government experts come together to create the standards that will make the operation of automated vehicles safe everywhere. This builds an environment which enables the uptake of automated and autonomous technology in road vehicles.

Mohammad Musa, CEO, Deepen AI, said:

“By contributing and working within the Safety Pool™ framework, commercial stakeholders across AV fleet operators, OEMs, Tier 1 suppliers and all other Tier 2+ suppliers can massively accelerate verification & validation as well as share insights & edge cases that are very hard for a single stakeholder to collect by themselves.”

Eric Barbier, Head of Safety, Wayve said:

“Safety is core to the development of automated vehicles and everything we do at Wayve. As an industry, it is essential that we collaborate around a common ecosystem for safety assurance. Wayve is excited by the opportunity unlocked by the Safety Pool™ initiative and we look forward to leveraging its extensive database of curated scenarios.”

Since the launch of this pioneering project in March 2021, WMG at the University of Warwick and Deepen AI have collaborated with stakeholders around the world. To date, over 450 organisations have enrolled in the Safety PoolTM Scenario Database. The next step in WMG’s activity is working closely with regulators in the UK and internationally on enabling a safety assurance for automated vehicles through the Safety PoolTM Scenario Database.

Dr Maria J. Alonso, Lead, Automotive in the Software-Driven Era Initiative, World Economic Forum said:

“Collaboration among stakeholders is key to ensure that autonomous vehicles offer the highest possible levels of safety. The Safety PoolTM Scenario Database, with its over 250,000 scenarios and its collaborative approach, provides a platform to contribute to safer mobility on our roads.”

The development of the Safety Pool™ Scenario Database was funded by UK’s Centre for Connected & Autonomous Vehicles (CCAV), Innovate UK and Zenzic funded Midlands Future Mobility project led by WMG, University of Warwick. Furthermore, the WMG centre for High Value Manufacturing Catapult has further supported the continuous enhancements of the database with its support to the Verification & Validation team at WMG.

Notes to editors:

University of Warwick press office contact: Simmie Korotane | Media Relations | Press & Media Relations | University of Warwick | Email: Simmie.korotane@warwick.ac.uk 

Useful Links:

Link to Safety PoolTM videos: https://youtu.be/edxw_VhzAYA

Link to Safety PoolTM website: https://www.safetypool.ai/

Link to Safety PoolTM Knowledge base: https://docs.safetypooldb.ai/