The joint lab’s outcomes will boost AUMOVIO’s development, production and supply of technologically leading and market-oriented products, hardware, software and modern mobility solutions.
There are three main areas of research:
- Artificial Intelligence: With AI becoming a foundational technology for in-vehicle functions, the joint lab will focus on developing efficient, reliable and scalable AI systems. Examples include an AI-driven system which fuses behavioural data gathered from in-cabin, driver-monitoring cameras together with traffic and road environment data ‘perceived’ by vehicle sensors. This enhances advanced driver‑assistance systems (ADAS) to support the realisation of fully autonomous vehicles. In other areas, researchers are developing methods to optimise and compress AI models for vehicle High‑Performance Computers (HPC) and to further harness AI in the engineering and testing of next-generation automotive products.
- Sustainability and Novel Materials: The joint lab aims to develop novel materials to increase sustainability and circularity in the automotive industry. For instance, researchers are exploring new adhesive materials for the manufacturing of vehicle displays, allowing scrap or end-of-life units to be effectively disassembled so high-value electronic components and materials can be recovered and upcycled/recycled.
- Connectivity and Security: The lab will develop innovative wired/wireless communications and cybersecurity solutions, to enable seamless connectivity and robust protection for increasingly complex vehicle software. Researchers will be looking to strengthen AUMOVIO’s current quantum-safe technologies in vehicles, by incorporating secure algorithms directly onto modern vehicle electronics, such as HPCs. In other projects, advanced fuzzing technologies – automated ways of testing software for bugs and vulnerabilities – and privacy-preserving techniques are being developed to improve software quality and protect personal data in vehicles.
The joint lab’s projects will draw upon the deep expertise of NTU researchers in engineering, material sciences, computing and data science, and business combined with the know-how and experience of AUMOVIO domain experts and product specialists.
More than 80 NTU researchers and AUMOVIO engineers, and around 50 undergraduate and postgraduate students will work at the joint lab over three years.
Building on successes from the joint Corporate Laboratory’s first phase
Since its establishment in 2019, the joint lab has produced numerous innovations which have been transferred to AUMOVIO’s business units for further development, such as smart navigation systems, software quality fuzzing and testing tools, driver assistance and autonomous driving technologies.
AUMOVIO has also conducted successful trials with automotive manufacturers in the region. An AI-based engineering solution developed by the lab is being piloted by an automaker to ensure a holistic management of components and software, thus accelerating new vehicle development. Another automaker has employed the lab’s AI fuzzing testing techniques, using the automated system of sending smart test data to uncover bugs and vulnerabilities in its vehicle software.
Signing of agreements with collaboration partners
At the launch event, AUMOVIO and NTU Singapore also inked separate agreements with two partners – Amazon Web Services (AWS) and deep tech venture creator Origgin - to work together to scale up and accelerate the lab’s research.
- Letter of Support with AWS: The AUMOVIO-NTU Corporate Lab will use AWS’ Trainium AI chips – which are purpose built for high performance and cost-efficient training of largescale AI models – in its research projects to advance AI for both automotive products and engineering processes. The lab is the first in Singapore to receive research grants under AWS’ Build on Trainium programme.
- Memorandum of Understanding with Origgin: The parties will collaborate to identify, validate, and scale new business opportunities from the lab’s innovations and solutions, using Origgin’s proprietary Venture Co-Creation methodology. Through the venture building framework, and expertise of AUMOVIO’s start-up organization co-pace, business models beyond AUMOVIO’s core area of expertise will be explored - at the same time contributing to Singapore’s ecosystem of academia-to-industry innovation.
