INESC TEC part of project that will make autonomous vehicles safer

INESC TEC will contribute to the development of perception algorithms, computing and architectures based on artificial intelligence, within the scope of the project THEIA – Automated Perception Driving, a partnership between the University of Porto and Bosch – which aims to make autonomous vehicles safer through a better perception of the outside environment.

The project, with a budget of more than €28M, will implement and validate perception algorithms supported by data collected via sensors installed in autonomous cars, in order to build a precise, robust and safe view of the environment around them. This integration of data will be used to promote cautious driving suitable to adverse weather conditions, or even to allow cars to avoid obstacles or pedestrians, thus contributing to improve the safety conditions in the use of autonomous vehicles in the future.

INESC TEC will mainly contribute “in the areas of perception through LiDAR technology and video cameras, development of efficient neural network architectures for hardware inference, explainable perception and transparency of deep learning algorithms, and secure computing in terms of infrastructure and communications in Cloud and Edge environments, focusing on autonomous vehicles’ driving”, explained Luís Pessoa, a researcher at INESC TEC.

The THEIA project is led by Rolando Martins, INESC TEC researcher and professor at the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Porto (FCUP), with the participation of several professors and researchers from FCUP and the Faculty of Engineering of U.Porto.

Due to its relevance, the project was formally presented at the Rectory building of the University of Porto, with Prime Minister, António Costa, the Rector of the University of Porto, António de Sousa Pereira, and the Representative of Bosch in Portugal, Carlos Ribas; the partnership protocol between the two institutions and the investment contract with AICEP – Agência para o Investimento e Comércio Externo de Portugal were signed at the event.