Continental and EasyMile inaugurate new joint autonomous driving R&D team

Continental and EasyMile signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on 15 November to form a joint autonomous driving Research and Development (R&D) team. The new joint team's work focus will be to develop new technology centered on perception and deep learning and to prepare Autonomous Vehicle (AV) technology for tests towards safe deployments on private grounds and public roads in the Singaporean metro area.

With a regulatory sandbox for AVs in place, Singapore has the flexibility to quickly adjust its regulatory framework to support the fast pace of development of AV technology while safeguarding public safety. Autonomous systems feature prominently in Singapore's plans to improve its transport system as it pursue its Smart City Initiative. AVs, in particular, are seen to have the potential to enhance first and last-mile connectivity between peoples' homes and nearby public transport nodes.

The MoU between Continental and EasyMile is also a stepping stone in a structured approach to AV testing on public roads in Singapore. The city already has a test center for AVs located in Jurong Innovation District and there are on-going AV trials being conducted at one-north and Sentosa. Singapore has also identified three towns for pilot deployment of AVs for public transport by the early 2020s. 

"Once our new R&D team is up and running, its long-term perspective is to ready an AV based on Continental and EasyMile’s global expertise for the roads of Singapore and to shape safe driverless solutions”, says Mr. Kien Foh Lo, Managing Director of Continental Automotive Singapore. With this MoU, Continental and EasyMile are working towards having a vehicle certified with the necessary technology by 2019, and aim to begin testing AVs without safety drivers by 2020, Mr. Kien tells us. However, as far as the testing areas are concerned, those will still dependent on the authorities. 

"Our Singapore location is one of our largest R&D locations in Asia already. Its position is strategic as Singapore is one of Asia's four tigers, and an important financial and trade centre”, says Mr. Ralph Lauxmann, Head of Systems & Technology, member of the Chassis & Safety management board, and Head of the Automated Driving project house at Continental. "With the joint autonomous driving R&D team we have expanded the network of our Automated Driving project house by another important location. Together with EasyMile we are proud to prepare a contribution to the Singapore Smart City Initiative. It is a privilege for our AV team to be part of this journey into the future. The results can be used as a blueprint for the deployment of driverless systems also in other regions of the world."

Mr. Gilbert Gagnaire, CEO of EasyMile SAS, confirmed during the inauguration, "I am delighted to further extend the already deep collaboration between Continental and EasyMile. For the past four years, EasyMile has demonstrated its leadership in deploying reliable and safe autonomous systems. Continental and EasyMile joint R&D team in Singapore is an important step to accelerate the development of new technology for global markets as well as to benefit from the advance and dynamism of Singapore's autonomous driving ecosystem to further test our products."

Mr. Pejvan Begui, CTO, EasyMile, also tells us that achieving commercial viability for AVs is still some way off, with significant development still necessary to drastically improve every aspect of AVs. Beyond improving hardware, such as the vehicle's processing power, cameras and sensors, better artifical intelligence and algorithms are necessary, as well as improved network capabilities. This MoU will help to accelerate the development of such new technologies. 

Mr. Tan Kong Hwee, Executive Director of Mobility, Singapore Economic Development Board said during the ceremony, "We welcome Continental and Easymile's decision to build autonomous vehicle R&D capabilities in Singapore. The two companies' joint decision underscores Singapore's attractiveness as a location to develop, test and commercialise new AV technologies."