Globally prominent investigators at the University of Limerick’s Kemmy Business School (KBS) and School of Law have successfully secured two EU Horizon 2020 awards, which will facilitate joint industry-academic research in the area of autonomous vehicles.
The two successful H2020 consortia, VI-DAS and Cloud-LSVA, will receive €11 million between them, and are comprised of 17 academic and industrial partners across seven EU countries, these include amongst others, XL Catlin’s insurance operations, Honda Research, Tom Tom, Valeo, IBM and Intel.
Dr Mary Shire, Vice President Research, University of Limerick said: “European funding is a strategic focus for the university. These two H2020 successes are a fantastic achievement for the KBS, the School of Law, and the University of Limerick as a whole. They are an excellent example of interdisciplinary research that will deliver real impact, which is a key tenet of the university’s research and innovation strategy – Excellence and Impact 2020”.
Dr Finbarr Murphy, Principal Investigator at the KBS said: “These research projects are at the forefront of the EU’s motivation for a safer, more mobile, transport infrastructure. The involvement of the KBS is an important step in recognising the associated technology as a business opportunity with attendant emerging risks”.
Road accidents continue to be a major public safety concern, of which human error is the main cause. Intelligent driver systems that can monitor the driver’s state and behaviour show promise to increase our collective safety. However, such new technology comes with risks, and justifiable public concern. These projects, VI-DAS and Cloud-LSVA, will not only progress the design of next generation autonomous vehicle technology, but will also address legal, liability and emerging ethical aspects. This research will contribute to reducing accidents, increasing economic growth, and stimulating more innovation in the autonomous vehicle area.
Fellow Principal Investigator, Dr Martin Mullins (KBS) said: “The strong link between the KBS and the insurance industry is evident in this success, and in particular our links with XL Catlin, a strength commended by the EU Commission in awarding this highly competitive funding. The KBS emerging risk team will play a key role in both consortia, by assisting the scientific community in connecting the development of driverless vehicle technology with the insurance and legal sectors”.
The Kemmy Business School (KBS) is one of Ireland’s leading business schools – recently awarded Best Business School at the InBusiness Editor’s Choice Awards – with a reputation for quality and employability of graduates. To find out more about the Cloud-LSVA project go to: http://cloud-lsva.eu/.