Politics

News story: ‘Brain’ for driverless cars: Oxford spin-out wins FT award

A company spun out from the University of Oxford in 2014 to develop a ‘brain’ for driverless cars has won a Financial Times ArcelorMittal Boldness in Business award.

Oxbotica carried off the ‘Smaller Company’ 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’s around it, and to calculate a safe and efficient route.

The technology is already running on Oxbotica’s fleet of vehicles, including a last-mile delivery van, the ESA Mars Rover, and the £8 million GATEway (Greenwich Automated Transport Environment) project in London.

Creating value through intellectual property

Originating from the university’s Oxford Robotics Institute (ORI) research group, the company has spurned conventional financing through external investment.

Dr Graeme Smith, CEO of Oxbotica, said:

We didn’t take the easy money. We’ve got very specific methodology to creating value through intellectual property and opportunities to license that. We stuck steadfastly to that approach. It’s nice to have a big investor but we didn’t 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’ve 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’re growing fast to meet this demand. This award is a major deal to a small company like us.

Oxbotica’s success was recognised alongside other winners, including Google’s Deepmind, Dollar Shave Club, Dong Energy and Preferred Networks.

March 28, 2017 HM GovernmentHM GovernmentGB • HM Government

News story: UK and France strengthen defence cooperation with new weapon system agreement

Defence Minister Harriett Baldwin and her French counterpart Laurent Collet-Billon today sign an agreement to explore future missile technologies with MBDA read more

March 28, 2017 GovWorldMagMODMinistry of Defence • MOD

Press release: New agency to provide joined-up education and skills funding

The Education Funding Agency and Skills Funding Agency are to merge to become one body, the Secretary State for Education announced today (Tuesday 28 March). The new, single funding agency – to be called the Education and Skills Funding Agency – will … read more

March 28, 2017 HM GovernmentHM GovernmentGB • HM Government

There is a continuous need to modernise the police but caution is required with these plans – Diane Abbott

Diane Abbott MP, Labour’s Shadow Home Secretary, commenting on new Government plans that would allow civilians to compete for chief constable jobs, said:

“Caution is required with these plans. There is a continuous need to modernise the police, making it more diverse and representative of society as a whole, but many able officers will now wonder whether their own career paths could be blocked.

“This Tory Government have already reduced officer numbers by over 20,000 and broken their pledge to protect police funding in real terms.

“Neither the police nor the public will want to see people recruited from outside the service simply because of their willingness to implement further swingeing cuts.”

March 28, 2017 GovWorldMagLabourLabour • Labour Party

The Government must act to close the funding gap in local services so that people are able to travel freely and safely throughout their communities – Teresa Pearce

Teresa Pearce MP, Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, commenting on an Asphalt Industry Alliance (AIA) report showing that one in six roads in England and Wales are in poor condition, said:

“Up and down the country, motorists, cyclists and passengers regularly have their safety compromised by dangerous and recurring potholes. Whilst councils are doing their utmost to repair these swiftly, huge cuts to local government budgets are making this ever more difficult.

“The Government must act to close the funding gap in local services so that people are able to travel freely and safely throughout their communities. And the utility companies who regularly dig up the roads must also be an active part of the solution to this problem.

“The Tories’ chaotic and cack-handed approach to local government funding is creating a system whereby councils can only afford to provide the bare minimum in statutory social care, safeguarding and homelessness services. Consequently, we are seeing everything else, from libraries to roads, suffer as a result.”