Departmental news
WMG to help Jaguar Land Rover develop self-driving car that can ‘see’ around corners
WMG at the University of Warwick is to work with Jaguar Land Rover in a key part of a £4.7 million project called AutopleX which will develop vehicles that can ‘see’ around corners and through obstacles, enhancing the capability of self-driving cars.
Jaguar Land Rover is leading AutopleX project to investigate pioneering safety technology for self-driving technology The Innovate UK funded project combines connected, automated and live mapping tech to allow self-driving cars to ‘see’ and ‘talk’ to each other and it brings together Jaguar Land Rover with WMG at the University of Warwick and Highways England, INRIX, Ricardo, Siemens, and Transport for West Midlands.
WMG will bring scientific expertise in the area of connected autonomous driving systems, V2X systems, physical and virtual validation, and cyber security. Using their unique vehicle simulation facilities they will work with partners to create insight prior to physical tests as well as post trial impact assessment in various scenarios that cannot be carried out in physical test due to the environmental restrictions. WMG will also advise the project team on cyber security aspects and will continuously assess resilience of the AutopleX systems against potential cyber-attacks.
WMG establishes new Centre for Applied Artificial Intelligence
WMG, at the University of Warwick, is investing in data driven innovations with a new Centre for Applied Artificial Intelligence. The Centre will enable industry and business to leverage large volumes of digital information to gain competitive insights through Artificial Intelligence methods.
This new centre brings together several applied areas of activity where WMG has an established track record of excellence. It will support the continued expansion of existing research groups in response to the ever-changing landscape of UK industrial needs. Two new appointees, Professor Giovanni Montana and Professor Mehrdad Dianati, will spearhead the Centre working closely with other academic colleagues in Intelligent Vehicles, WMG Cyber Security Centre and the Institute of Digital Healthcare.
WMG in £2 million programme to help SAVVY drivers avoid collisions and accidents
WMG, at the University of Warwick, are the academic research leads in a new £2 million Innovate UK funded research programme that will help create new forms of technological assistance to help drivers to avoid collisions and accidents.
WMG PhD student recognised by FORBES 30 Under 30 Europe 2018
We are delighted to announce that one of our PhD students, Siddartha Khastgir, has been recognised as part of the prestigious FORBES 30 Under 30 Europe Industry list.
Siddartha joined other ‘young disruptors’ at an exclusive launch event in London last night (Monday 22 January 2018), to celebrate the brightest young entrepreneurs and breakout talent in Europe.
Siddartha sits within the Intelligent Vehicles team at WMG working under the supervision of Professor Paul Jennings on ‘Developing testing methodologies for ensuring safety of autonomous vehicles and his work is influencing international standards.’
In June 2017 he was elected to the respected IMechE Council of Members. He also holds a number of other key positions at IMechE too, as Chair of the IMechE International Young Member Committee, and as a member of the International Strategy Board of IMechE.
In April he also received the prestigious ITS UK national award for Young Professional of the Year in the field of Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS), and more recently he was declared the UK’s leading engineer under 30 at the TechWorks Awards.
PhD student scoops top young engineer award
One of our PhD students, Siddartha Khastgir, has been declared the UK’s leading engineer under 30 at last night’s TechWorks Awards.
The awards celebrate the year’s key electronics innovations, people and companies from across the UK and Ireland. While these are the inaugural TechWorks Awards, they follow on from the NMI Awards, which ran from 2001 to 2016.
Siddartha was presented with his award by the BBC’s technology correspondent, Rory Cellan-Jones, who said the “quality of the field was outstanding.
“Siddartha’s personal skill set, work effort and initiative are making a big difference to WMG. Whilst still at an early stage in his career, he is already recognised widely, and internationally.”
Midlands roads to be UK autonomous vehicle testbed
Roads in Coventry and Birmingham are set to become a world-class UK testbed for developing the next generation connected and autonomous (CAV) vehicles, thanks to a new £25m programme of investment being led by WMG at the University of Warwick.
The pioneering venture, undertaken by a consortium of research and industry partners, will make UK roads ready for CAVs by developing wireless networks, analysing how vehicles behave in real urban environments and involving the public in their evaluations.
The UK Central CAV Testbed will be based on 80 kilometres of urban roads in Coventry and Birmingham, creating a world-leading connected infrastructure and eco-system, and positioning the Midlands as a centre for cutting-edge automotive and communication technologies.
Let’s talk automotive advances
Our Professor of Experiential Engineering Paul Jennings, will be presenting “The road to autonomous connected vehicles” at the Malvern Festival of Innovation next Wednesday (4 October).
The Festival, which runs from 2-6 October, takes place at the Morgan Motor Company, and will explore topics including how research and development is leading to new technologies to improve lives, and the new insights that are leading the way.
Professor Jennings’s talk will form part of the Automotive Advances programme, and will focus on self-parking and autonomous driving capabilities, and the next significant advances including how our roads might look in the future.
For more information on the Festival and the full Automotive Advances line-up visit: https://www.festival-innovation.com/
WMG Professor recognised at prestigious European automotive awards
WMG’s Professor Paul Jennings, and his Experiential Engineering research team, have received a ‘Highly Commended’ accolade at the prestigious AutoSens Awards.
The automotive awards held in Brussels, recognise the greatest design, technical and marketing innovations within the automotive imaging sector.
Professor Jennings and his team were recognised as ‘Highly Commended’ in the Greatest Exploration category, for their inventive 3xD driving simulator, a key facility for our researchers working on Autonomous, Smart and Connected Vehicles.
Autonomous vehicles to learn to swarm like insects in half million pound programme at WMG
Autonomous vehicles will learn some of the swarming skills, as used by birds and insects, thanks to a new research programmes involving WMG at University of Warwick.
WMG at the University of Warwick will receive just over half a million pound from Innovate UK for its part in the £2m programme in which it will partner with autonomous pod manufacturer RDM Group, and Milton Keynes Council to create Swarm Intelligence for autonomous pods.
The concept is based on fusing together existing information from other autonomous vehicles a fleet of pods to allow each pod to locally decide the most appropriate action for the group as a whole – similar to how insects and birds currently behave.
This means that pods can highlight any unexpected behaviour to a supervisor, as well as enabling ‘platooning’, where vehicles follow each other when possible to minimise the number or individual vehicle movements. The technology also enables the system automatically adapt its behaviour to meet the demand so that Pods can be optimally distributed within a city to the areas where they are most likely requested.
Have your say on driverless cars – free public event
Driverless cars – what do you think about them? Do you think they’ll improve our lives, or not? There’s a chance to have YOUR say in Coventry this month, at an Ideas Café event hosted by WMG, University of Warwick.
Researchers from WMG’s Experiential Engineering Group are running a free event in the heart of the UK’s ‘motor city’, to explore the public’s attitudes towards self-driving cars, and to hear different thoughts on the future of motoring.
The event – which will take place at the Transport Museum on 30 June – will give participants the opportunity to discuss whether they trust driverless technology, and how they think self-driving cars will affect communities and the environment.
The event will be in the format of an Ideas Café which brings people together informally, over tea and cake to hear about and discuss the issues relevant to them.