In this series, we speak with our partner institutions about the collaborations shaping research and policy. This post highlights a collaboration between CSEP and National Automotive Innovation Centre, University of Warwick.
What is the main research topic or project focus under this collaboration?
With the rapid development of transport innovations, such as driver-assistance and self-driving technology, the global automotive ecosystem is facing a transformational change. This transformation is fuelled by the increasing software content in modern vehicles requiring a new, innovative and scalable approaches to vehicle development. Traditional mechanical architectures and distributed electronics is no longer commercially viable.
Self-driving technology is a type of software-defined vehicle (SDV) that will enable driving functions and features to be updated through software, instead of changing the hardware. This systemic change requires not only a re-think of vehicle development process but also commercial business models, moving from point of sale revenue to through-life feature service based revenue streams.
Robotaxis are coming to London this year, and most global auto manufacturers have their programmes ongoing for releasing their own versions of software defined vehicles within the next years. This change which everyone is grappling with, offers the UK a tremendous opportunity to UK grab a global leadership by building not only the technology but also the associated supply chain to support commercialisation.
To support the UK’s automotive ecosystem grab this opportunity, our research team has applied a systems thinking approach to identify investable opportunities based on the understanding of both the current SDV ecosystem and how its potential evolution over time. For example, investing in new SDV capabilities and workforce training could create new financial value and strengthen the UK’s position as a global technology leader.
From identifying the risks that will emerge when incorporating these technologies in the existing systems to tackling the technical challenges, a systematic and forward-thinking interventions must be adopted if we want to realise the potential social and economic benefits.
What problem or challenge does the research aim to solve?
As a research group that focuses on safe autonomy, we recognise that SDVs provide the software that is fundamental to powering not only autonomy but also the future generation of vehicles with driver assistance and other personalised features. This presents two key challenges. First, to enable their real-world operations, they must be proven safe to the highest safety standards when incorporating in our road systems.
However, our road systems have been designed and used for decades. From time to time, the systems are shared by different types of newer and existing vehicles, more diverse groups of road users, and more advanced driving technologies. By adopting a true systems-thinking approach, our research team views the complex road systems as a whole, identifying and mitigating potential risks from the multilayered interactions when incorporating SDVs in systems.
Through modelling and visualising the compound interactions between SDVs, road systems, infrastructures and other road users, the research team can capture potential hazards and develop appropriate interventions and prevention from technical and policy perspectives.
Second, SDVs and the ambition for centralised compute by all auto manufacturers, requires a re-think and re-design of the entire vehicle electronic architecture. This shift in vehicle architectures requires deep systems thinking approach to understand the interactions between various software modules while standardising communication interfaces between to enhance scalability and interoperability.
How might the research influence policy, industry, or society?
With our research expertise in using a systems thinking approach to shape national and international transport policies and industry focussed standards, this research will provide scientific evidence for policymakers,regulators and standardisation bodies to develop future SDV-related regulations and standards and tackle safety challenges systematically and thoroughly. For example, our recent systems-thinking work with the UK Civil Aviation Authority identified over 50 high-priority areas for existing helicopter and future eVTOL regulations.
The research findings will also support technology developers in uncovering the integration challenges across protocols, operating systems, data formats, and codified languages. They can then improve the SDV training and testing based on a practical and quantifiable framework and prepare their products for safe real-world deployment effectively.
Users are at the heart of SDV development. I firmly believe that only if the users trust SDV will the technology succeed and achieve its full potential. By communicating our research openly and transparently to the general public, we reassure the public members that we proactively eliminate and prevent possible risks ahead of the SDV deployment. This will increase their confidence in using the technology in their daily lives.
What has been the most rewarding part of this collaboration for you personally?
Safety must be the top priority of all technology, especially for safety-critical technology like SDVs. This could only be achieved through collaboration – no country or organisation can achieve this on its own.
We are delighted to have had the opportunity to collaborate with the CSEP team at Imperial, who are also driven by our common philosophy of safety being pre-competitive and working towards enhancing UK’s international standing especially in the automotive ecosystem.
During this cross-industry collaboration, we combined the domain expertise from the automobile industry and research capability from our team and the CSEP. As a result, this research project transfers scientific knowledge to practical solutions which address real-life challenges.