Oxbotica’s New Autonomous Vehicle Software Learns As It Goes
A spin-out company from the University of Oxford called Oxbotica has developed a new software system for making regular cars into driverless vehicles.
The system, called Selenium, can ingest data from visual cameras, laser scanners, or radar systems. It then uses a series of algorithms to establish where the "it" is, what surrounds it, and how to move. “It takes any vehicle and makes it into an autonomous vehicle,” explains Paul Newman, a professor at the University of Oxford and cofounder of Oxbotica. That sounds ambitious, but he’s being serious: the team plans for the software to be used to control not just autonomous cars, but warehouse robots, forklifts, and self-driving public transport vehicles.
Despite recent investigations into Tesla’s autonomous systems casting somewhat of a shadow over self-driving car technology, those working in the sector are clearly pressing ahead with their work. Oxbotica isn’t alone in launching software: Nissan also announced its new ProPilot driver aid this week, too. The two systems are very different, but their arrivals suggest that the race to achieve automotive autonomy shows no signs of slowing.
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