Autonomous driving – are we nearly there yet?
Autonomous driving – are we nearly there yet?
Bringing Autonomous Vehicles (AVs) to a mass market is proving somewhat more challenging than forecast say 5 years ago. We are already seeing AV segmentation between private vehicles, Mobility as a Service vehicles and commercial vehicles based on costs to add AV capabilities, vehicle size, willingness to accommodate large sensor suites and use cases. Predictions vary greatly as to when we will reach full autonomous capabilities – SAE Level 5 – given we are at Level 2 and just moving into Level 3 today.
At the heart of AVs are sensors, on board processing with AI and ML and connectivity including V2X and mobile broadband. The AI/ML processing tries to understand the data that the sensors (Cameras/Radar/LIDAR) are providing and then decides what action to take, if any. But there’s the challenge – how does the AI work, will it make the same decision twice when fed the same sensor data, how will we know? This is where Explainable AI (XAI) comes in – XAI is intended to explain how AI works along with any potential biases – XAI is vital if we are to trust the decisions made by AVs. Ethics are another consideration when assessing the AI performance – will the AI make decisions that are ethically acceptable?
Much of this plays into policy makers and the relevant standards and regulations. In the UK we are starting to see potential changes to the Highway Code so as to support some AV capabilities and last year saw the introduction of rules around Automated Lane Keeping Systems. But how do we apportion blame in the AV world when accidents happen and who pays for the repairs?
With vehicles now including complex suites of sensors, integrated chat bots and high-capacity connectivity, AVs could generate tens of terabytes of data per hour, how much stays in the vehicle compared to how much goes into the cloud has yet to be determined, but more issues could arise here as to data ownership, related to monetisation rights, security and privacy concerns.
Several points above also raise legal issues and until agreement is reached these have the potential to delay the introduction of higher-level AVs.
This event aims to look at AVs from the perspectives of XAI, emerging standards and regulations, ethics and accountability, legal aspects and data generation and ownership.
This in-person event is taking place at the historical St Catharine's College, Cambridge and will provide delegates with ample opportunities to network with fellow attendees to explore the themes of this event.
Following this event all delegates are invited to join the CW Founders' Dinner drinks reception, which is being held in the same location. The Founders' Dinner is an invitation-only event and offers business networking opportunities for Founder member organisations within the CW network.
Speakers include:
- Saber Fallah - Reader (Associate professor) in Trustworthy AI and Autonomy, University of Surrey (ICS)
- Francis McKinney - Senior Technical Delivery Lead, Zenzic
- John Okas - CCO, Real Wireless
- Nick Reed - Chief Road Safety Advisor, National Highways
- Jessica Uguccioni - Lead Lawyer, Automated Vehicles Review, Law Commission
Andre Burgess
NPL’s nominated SIG Champion, Andre Burgess runs Strategic partnerships for the Digital Sector at NPL where he is also leading on its activities in CAV R&D as well as the development of new testing infrastructure for future integrated communications networks. Andre has a long experience in product and service innovation in the TMT sector, including NTL (now Virgin Media) and Three. He subsequently established a successful business designing and deploying disruptive digital end user products and services. More recently he turned his focus on the energy and environment sector, working with distributed generators, housing providers and local authorities, to develop innovative data centric services to optimise localised energy generation and affordable smart home services. With a mission to ensure data can be trusted and shared openly in the future, he joined NPL in 2017.
- Twitter:
- @AndreBurgess
John Okas
John has worked in wireless and telecommunications throughout his career. Initially with Motorola and Racal in engineering and product marketing roles. He was a founding director of NTL (now Arqiva), initially as Business Development Director building and managing the complete commercial organisation. He also managed the R&D Group which developed one of the first commercially available MPEG video compression systems. Then as Managing Director - Telecommunications he was responsible for growing NTL's wireless business using NTL’s extensive tower portfolio and nationwide field operations capability and entering the fixed telecommunications and satellite services markets. Moving to Pell Frischmann, the consulting engineers, he started a telecommunications business and was involved in several large transportation projects including the Highways Agency's NRTS Project which updated the communication systems on the strategic Road Network and he first got involved in smart metering. Currently as CCO for Real Wireless he undertakes business strategy and development activities, as well as delivering various projects. Recent projects include assessing the implications of the sunset of 2G and 3G networks in the UK and analysing various aspects of smart metering in the UK. He takes a strong interest in the evolving NTN and M2M markets and the evolution of energy communication networks.
Nigel Wall
Nigel has been involved with connected vehicle research since 1992 when he led BT’s mobile data research team – initially using modems on first generation analogue TACS mobile phones! Since 2001 he has provided consultancy complex-systems, with a primary specialism in connected vehicles. He acted as the Monitoring Officer for twelve of the Connected and Autonomous Vehicle research projects supported by Innovate UK and the Centre for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles. Climate Associates provides consultancy on delivering pragmatic sustainable systems and services, based on life cycle assessments where wholesale replacement of current systems with lower footprint solutions may not be the most sustainable option.
Tom Robinson
Tom has worked in the software and advanced technology industry for over 35 years with 25+ years in automotive. During this time Tom has provided leadership in several world class automotive consultancies including Pi Technology, Ricardo, Applus IDIADA and Conigital. For 6 years Tom supported InnovITS (UK Centre of Excellence for Tranport Telematics and Sustainable Mobility) as a non-executive director, helping promote the establishment of UK ITS capability. He has championed and directed several world class innovation programmes in the ITS field including TfNSW’s Ute, EU’s SARTRE, InnovITS FaCITS, TSB’s ERTOC and Innovate UK’s MuCCA, CONNECTOR and MACAM projects. Tom is currently working at EVIE Autonomous, a technology company developing and offering level four off-highway self-driving technology systems that can be installed into any vehicle. In 2022 EVIE acquired the assets and IP of Westfield Autonomous Vehicles, adding the world’s most successful autonomous PRT platform (as run at Heathrow airport) to EVIES matchless CAVONIX autonomous vehicle stack. As CPO at EVIE, Tom is helping drive the future towards CAV.
