Continental and Oxford University partner for artificial intelligence research

International technology company Continental and the University of Oxford are conducting joint research in the field of artificial intelligence.

The partnership between Continental and the Department of Engineering Science at the University of Oxford will focus on the possible uses and development of artificial intelligence algorithms, which have the potential to further enhance future mobility applications.

These deep-learning algorithms look set to optimise visual object detection and human–machine dialog moving forward. The first phase of the envisaged three-year partnership began in early November and includes new postdoctoral research positions at Oxford.

Industry-academia connect

“Cooperating with leading research institutions is of the utmost importance to us. It is an important building block that will enable us to measure up to the persistent demands calling on us to shape the mobility of the future and acquire qualified employees and executives for tomorrow,” said Kurt Lehmann, corporate technology officer at Continental.

Continental expects the partnership to yield findings on the use of artificial intelligence methods, including in the areas of automated and autonomous driving, the improvement of future vehicle access systems, accident minimisation through intelligent warning systems, and the sensitive dialog that will take place in the future between drivers and vehicles – between humans and their machines.

Moulding mobility of the future

“I am delighted with this new, important collaboration between Continental and our world-leading Vision and Information Engineers. I look forward to it underpinning technology developments for mobility of the future,” said Lionel Tarassenko, head of the Department of Engineering Science, University of Oxford.

“Our vision is a world in which the transportation of people and goods is fully automated and seamless, freeing up time and mental resources for other tasks. Continental will contribute its deep technological understanding and competence in the mobility world, while Oxford offers best-in-class algorithmic competence and an extremely innovative environment. With their help, we can transform our vision into reality; with our help, Oxford can see how their research is translated into new products and services for mobility of a future world”, says Demetrio Aiello, Head of Artificial Intelligence & Robotics at Continental.”

“Recent advances of artificial intelligence can revolutionize key technological areas such as transportation. The Oxford Visual Geometry Group is thrilled to collaborate with Continental in applying its cutting-edge research in deep learning and computer vision to the important and demanding domain of assisted mobility. We believe that, due to the extensive presence of Continental’s technology in the automotive sector, incorporating state-of-the-art artificial intelligence systems in their products has a significant transformative potential for this area,” added Professor Andrea Vedaldi, a principal investigator in the Visual Geometry Group.