ResiCAV explored the feasibility of creating a UK Cybersecurity ‘Centre of Excellence’ to detect, understand and respond to emerging threats in real time.

The three-month program was support by funding from The Centre for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles and run by Zenzic and Innovate UK.

Anthony Martin, head of vehicle resilience technologies at Horiba MIRA, said, “Given the sheer size and complexity of the issue, we’re incredibly proud of the world-leading research the consortium has delivered over a very short time span. This research has successfully demonstrated how a Cybersecurity ‘Centre of Excellence’ can support future transport systems to develop real-time responsiveness to cybersecurity threats.”

ResiCAV is a consortium consisting of Horiba MIRA, Thales, BT, WMG at the University of Warwick, the Centre for Modelling and Simulation, Oxfordshire County Council, AESIN Techworks, the University of South Wales, the University of Bristol, Coventry University and the National Digital Exploitation Centre.

The full report is available here.

With driver assistance system market expected to grow to US$70bn by 2024, Ansible Motion’s Delta driver-in-the-loop (DIL) simulator has been designed to offer a repeatable laboratory environment to test and validate new ADAS in a short time, to see how drivers react to them.

“Car makers are introducing more driver assistance technologies, but the level and method of intervention differs by car brand,” says Kia Cammaerts, founder and director of Ansible Motion. “If a car does something unexpected, we are able to test what the driver and occupant reactions will be in our simulator laboratory, well in advance of cutting any metal. Our latest simulator enables car manufacturers to design better and safer vehicles and assess many proposed technologies early in the design cycle.”

Ansible Motion’s simulator lab in Hethel, Norfolk, UK, has cabin environments that reflect OEM styling, human interaction features and new software connectivity that enables deeper environment and sensor simulation, coupled with Ansible Motion’s proprietary motion, vision and audio environment that ‘tricks’ drivers and occupants into believing they are experiencing a real vehicle and its ADAS or autonomous technologies.

Other system validation examples include lane departure warnings and assistance, intelligent speed adaptation and driver monitoring for drowsiness and distraction.

“We aim to deliver compelling experiences to connect real people to the world of simulation.  This method of providing virtual ride and drive experiences has proven to be highly effective for vehicle constructors as they trial their new concepts,” claims Cammaerts.

The Autonomous, PErson-Related Organization of road traffic and digital Logistics (APEROL) consists of a consortium of experts and research institutions to implement, test and validate a fully automated organization of traffic and transportation systems by the end of 2020.

PSI Logistics, a solutions provider for intelligent logistics management, has been awarded the leadership of the project and will partner with the University of Trier, the City of Aachen, e.GO Mobile, MAT.TRAFFIC as well as Ergosign.

PSI Logistics will develop the required algorithms and simulation technologies for mobility services. This includes the development of a user-friendly graphical user interface for intelligent mobility as well as the development of a transportation control and an integrated booking and remuneration system in a cloud-based framework.

The autonomous passenger vehicles management (scheduling, routing, and billing) is based on the PSItms Transport Management System from the PSI Logistics Suite.

In the framework of the research project, among others, processes and methods of artificial intelligence will be developed and used in practice in the vehicles.

Set to be the world’s biggest market for self-driving cars, China is investing heavily in new technology to expedite autonomous technology to market.

With Nvidia being a leading name in artificial intelligence, Xpeng Motors will develop the software for Chinese road conditions to bring advanced autonomous driving systems such as parking pilot, traffic jam pilot, auto lane change and highway pilot to its models by 2020.

“Our mission is to lead the innovation of intelligent vehicles and make them widely available for Chinese consumers. We are very excited about working with the world’s leading players in this field and are confident that this partnership will accelerate our technology advancement,” said Dr Gu Junli, vice president of autonomous driving at Xpeng Motors.

“Independent research capability is one of our core competences. Understanding China’s specific user scenarios is critical in developing smart driving solutions for Chinese consumers and we strive to provide them with the best driving experience,” Junli added.

The year-long autonomous trial, which will take place at the National University of Singapore’s (NUS) Kent Ridge campus, is a joint program between transportation company ComfortDelGro, autonomous technology company EasyMile, NUS, and luxury car dealer Inchcape Singapore.

The service will use EasyMile’s EZ10 autonomous shuttle and carry a total of 15 passengers along a 1.6km route in NUS between Heng Mui Keng Terrace and Business Link.

It is the first trial of its kind in Singapore by a transportation operator, and one that will rely on the vehicle’s own internal array of software and hardware technologies for its navigation on the roads, without the assistance of external infrastructure.

A safety engineer will also be on board the autonomous shuttle during the trial to ensure safe operation of the vehicle, as well as to provide engineering expertise.

In the initial stage of the trial, the autonomous shuttle will be focused on collecting data for its mapping and navigation systems, and would not be open for passenger service. Once the trial management team is satisfied that the shuttle is ready for commuter trials, passengers will be able to start boarding the vehicle.

The EasyMile EZ10 autonomous shuttle runs entirely on electricity and benefits from the latest in autonomous vehicle technology combining robotics and artificial intelligence, to operate and navigate on existing roadways with no additional infrastructure required. It has also an in-built access ramp for mobility challenged passengers.

The multi-million dollar project, which will be based at the University of Warwick’s Wellesbourne campus, will form a center that creates state-of-the-art autonomous technology and vehicle modular architectures, and prototype new vehicle systems.

Technology research projects at the Smart City Mobility Center will be able to benefit from regional developments of 5G being carried out by the West Midlands Combined Authority at the new £20m (US$25m) UK Mobility Data Institute.

“This is the first time in any country that such a comprehensive system is being designed and tested. This will help integrate plans for transport systems for the future that have the potential to bring significant economic benefits to transform and improve the lives of a great many people who could benefit from even safer, less congested, and more environmentally sustainable transport,” said Professor Lord Bhattacharyya, chairman of WMG, a department at the University of Warwick that provides innovative solutions to a number of industries.

The center will also bring together the research expertise of Jaguar Land Rover, which has its UK headquarters nearby at Gaydon and is currently working extensively on future vehicle technologies and autonomous driving innovations.

“Jaguar Land Rover welcomes the centre, based at the University of Warwick’s Wellesbourne campus, which will create state-of-the-art electric vehicle modular architectures and integrated driverless capability to support the smart cities of the future,” said Professor Dr Ralf Speth, chief executive officer of Jaguar Land Rover.

“It builds on collaboration between Jaguar Land Rover, WMG, the University of Warwick and government to develop 5G connectivity in the region – this is critical for new mobility solutions and services that will transform customer experiences in the future and make congestion, traffic accidents and emissions a thing of the past.”

“We look forward to this industry-leading project, which will develop future prototypes that put the UK at the forefront of automotive technology.”

Cohda Wireless, an Australia-based company that develops software for connected autonomous vehicles, replicated a real-life scenario in the city of Adelaide involving two cars – one human driven, one autonomously driven – at a four-way intersection where V2X could avoid a potential collision.

“We demonstrated that when vehicles are connected to each other using our smart V2X technology, the connected autonomous vehicle would detect that [another car]is approaching the red light at speed and is probably not going to stop. This allows the connected autonomous vehicle to pre-emptively identify and respond to the threat by slowing down and stopping,” said Professor Paul Alexander, Cohda Wireless’s chief technical officer.

“Cohda’s V2X technology allows vehicles to ‘speak to each other’ to extend their perception horizon,” added Professor Alexander.

The trial was specifically designed to take place in the city as such environments, which are known as ‘urban canyons’, where positioning reliant on global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) can be difficult and inaccurate – something that would be a major safety issue.

“The area in the city of Adelaide in which the trial was conducted was one such urban canyon where positioning through GNSS can be off by up to 40m, but with our V2X Locate technology positioning accuracy is improved to within a meter,” said Professor Alexander.

The California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) granted the first permit in the US state to begin autonomous trials of vehicles that do not require a test driver present in the front, however testing is still subject to carefully defined limits.

Thanks to new DMV regulations that took effect in April 2018, Waymo will have a permit to go fully driverless for testing day and night on city streets, rural roads and highways with speed limits of up to 65mph. The company has already been conducting such trials in the state of Arizona.

Areas that Waymo will be testing include Mountain View, Sunnyvale, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, and Palo Alto.

This breakthrough, along with the recent news that the self-driving company has just driven over 10 million miles in its autonomous cars across the USA, will enable the next phase toward fully driverless vehicles and opens up the doors for rival companies such as Uber and Lyft to do the same.