QUT Centre for Robotics researchers are working on a new fundamental research project with automaker Ford Motor Company to develop improved localisation and perceptions techniques for autonomous vehicles.
The project will look at how cameras and LIDAR sensors, commonly used in autonomous vehicles, can better understand the world around them. Professor Michael Milford will lead the two-year, US$200,000 (AU$271,000) project and its research team, which includes QUT Research Fellow Dr Sourav Garg and PhD candidate Ming Xu.
“QUT’s Centre for Robotics has extensive experience in the areas of robotic vision and navigation, and this research project is a terrific opportunity to bring that expertise to a project with a leader in the automotive industry,” Professor Milford said.
“We’ll dive deep into research developing the algorithms and artificial intelligence systems that could improve the capabilities of autonomous vehicles. In particular, we’ll be looking at the synergistic relationship between autonomous vehicles and the world around them.
“If vehicles are able to understand the environment they are in such as in an urban environment, the vehicle can better understand its surroundings such as a pedestrian crossing. We can take that understanding of what is in the environment to then help the vehicle better understand where they are located in it.”
Dr. Punarjay (Jay) Chakravarty will lead the project on behalf of the Ford Autonomous Vehicle Future Tech group. The Ford and QUT team will work together to understand how to decrease the cost of autonomous vehicle technology adoption by lowering the cost of sensing and computing using State of the Art Deep Learning technology.
Richard Taube, Manager of University Programs at Ford Australia, said the partnership highlights the vital role Australian universities play in working with industry to innovate and advance technology.
“Ford Motor Company collaborates strategically with top Australian universities, and this collaboration with QUT on AV subsystems is confirmation that Australian universities are world-class in many areas and provide value to Ford’s Research and Advanced Engineering function,” he said.
The QUT Centre for Robotics has a long history of working to better understand autonomous vehicle technologies, especially in the area of perception and localisation systems, which makes the collaborative research a seamless fit.
Professor Milford has worked with autonomous vehicle projects in mining, as well as a project which involved taking an artificial intelligence system on a road trip to identify the key role high-definition annotated maps could play in autonomous driving on Australian roads.
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