'Brain' for driverless cars: Oxford spin-out wins FT award
Innovate UK-supported Oxbotica enjoys success with artificial intelligence software for the next generation of autonomous road vehicles.
Oxbotica CEO Graeme Smith (centre) receives the award from Lionel Barber, Editor of the Financial Times, and Lakshmi Mittal, Chairman and CEO, ArcelorMittal.
A company spun out from the in 2014 to develop a 바카라 사이트˜brain바카라 사이트™ for driverless cars has won a Financial Times ArcelorMittal award.
carried off the 바카라 사이트˜Smaller Company바카라 사이트™ award for its achievements in creating artificial intelligence software for the next generation of autonomous road vehicles.
Creating an autonomous control system
With support from Innovate UK, Oxbotica has developed an autonomous control system called Selenium. It can work on any vehicle, including forklifts and cargo pods.
The software uses data from laser and camera sensors mounted on the vehicle to find out where it is, what바카라 사이트™s around it, and to calculate a safe and efficient route.
The technology is already running on Oxbotica바카라 사이트™s fleet of vehicles, including a last-mile delivery van, the ESA Mars Rover, and the £8 million (Greenwich Automated Transport Environment) project in London.
Creating value through intellectual property
Originating from the university바카라 사이트™s (ORI) research group, the company has spurned conventional financing through external investment.
Dr Graeme Smith, CEO of Oxbotica, said:
We didn바카라 사이트™t take the easy money. We바카라 사이트™ve got very specific methodology to creating value through intellectual property and opportunities to license that. We stuck steadfastly to that approach. It바카라 사이트™s nice to have a big investor but we didn바카라 사이트™t want that to change our focus or direction.
Oxbotica began with 4 employees and has now grown to 30, with the intention of doubling that number this year.
Dr Smith added:
We바카라 사이트™ve opened up a third office in Oxford, a full fleet of autonomous vehicles, and a dedicated test track and workshop. Our customer base is expanding rapidly and we바카라 사이트™re growing fast to meet this demand. This award is a major deal to a small company like us.
Oxbotica바카라 사이트™s success was recognised alongside other winners, including Google바카라 사이트™s , , and .