Continental strengthens its AI initiatives to develop mobility of the future

Continental cited this figure during its first international AIR Days.

Here, close to 200 Continental experts in artificial intelligence and robotics exchanged information about current developments in this research field. The AIR Days (AIR stands for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics) are part of the Continental strategy to bolster Continental as a technology company that utilizes artificial intelligence in all areas.

"Continental will become an "˜AI-empowered company'. On the product side, we will deploy artificial intelligence to automate mobility. This will make commuting and traveling easier for us all. In process automation, artificial intelligence will make our employees' work easier. Monotonous tasks will be further automated and relevant information from a huge volume of data will be more identifiable," explained Demetrio Aiello, Head of Artificial Intelligence & Robotics at Continental.

Experts expect the most clearly visible progress using artificial intelligence in the field of advanced driver assistance systems. AI will allow vehicle systems to recognise pedestrians and cyclists as well as their gestures and intentions with much greater precision and reliability. This will reduce the potential number of false alarms, increasing acceptance of corresponding systems.

These methods can also recognise the presence of a pedestrian even if they are almost completely hidden from view behind a parked delivery vehicle. They can also notice in time whether pedestrians are actually watching the traffic carefully or are being distracted by their smartphones. These algorithms will be integrated in a variety of applications such as automated driving systems, advanced driver assistance systems, cornering assistance systems and much more. Lastly, AI-based driving strategies to increase the range of electric cars over the next few generations will provide another piece of the puzzle in dispelling range anxiety.

Guest lectures from research institutes such as Oxford, Berkeley and the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence were a highlight of Continental's AIR Days. Here, participants discussed with the speakers new approaches for optimising neural networks and the continuous learning process of mobile robots.

"Our experiences of collaborating with the various international research institutes clearly show that pooling knowledge proves worthwhile very quickly "“ especially in the field of AI research. We will also continue to expand these research networks in the future. Even merely the shared use of available data from Product Development and Production allows us faster access to AI systems that have already been validated for safer products and more efficient processes," says Aiello, describing the benefits of various partnerships.

In 2015, Continental set up a central AI predevelopment department to coordinate the various AI research activities. The technology company is collaborating with NVIDIA, Baidu and many other research institutes in this field, including the University of Oxford, the Berkeley DeepDrive (BDD) at the University of California, the Technische Universität Darmstadt, the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence and the Indian Institute of Technology Madras (India).

In Budapest, Hungary, the Continental Advanced Driver Assistance Systems business unit opened a centre of excellence for deep machine learning in May 2018. The technology company currently employs around 400 specialists worldwide with AI expertise and is looking for further talented people for product and process development in artificial intelligence.