'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 鈥榖rain鈥� for driverless cars has won a Financial Times ArcelorMittal award.
carried off the 鈥楽maller Company鈥� 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, what鈥檚 around it, and to calculate a safe and efficient route.
The technology is already running on Oxbotica鈥檚 fleet of vehicles, including a last-mile delivery van, the ESA Mars Rover, and the 拢8 million (Greenwich Automated Transport Environment) project in London.
Creating value through intellectual property
Originating from the university鈥檚 (ORI) research group, the company has spurned conventional financing through external investment.
Dr Graeme Smith, CEO of Oxbotica, said:
We didn鈥檛 take the easy money. We鈥檝e got very specific methodology to creating value through intellectual property and opportunities to license that. We stuck steadfastly to that approach. It鈥檚 nice to have a big investor but we didn鈥檛 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:
We鈥檝e 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 we鈥檙e growing fast to meet this demand. This award is a major deal to a small company like us.
Oxbotica鈥檚 success was recognised alongside other winners, including Google鈥檚 , , and .