FORVIA HELLA is participating in a research project on the use of generative AI in the development of simulation processes for autonomous driving – and is receiving 1.2 million euros public funding from the German Federal Ministry of Economics.

Tuesday 2024-03-19

Autonomous driving is one of the most important fields of innovation in the automotive industry. The increasing spread of generative AI is opening up completely new possibilities here. The partners in the NXT GEN AI METHODS project want to tap into this potential together. FORVIA HELLA is also focusing on this area and has therefore joined the project with employees from HKG and Aglaia. The focus is on AI-based test and simulation processes. The aim of the project is to use generative AI to create artificially realistic driving situations that can be used to train autonomous vehicles in simulation environments. And thereby, realize considerable cost and time savings during development. In addition to FORVIA HELLA, the project partners include Mercedes Benz, Continental, ZF, and various research institutes. The Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection is providing a total of 27 million euros funding for the project, of which FORVIA HELLA will receive 1.2 million euros.

Strong team effort

"The approval of publicly funded projects of this size is a great success for us, which can only be achieved in close cooperation with the specialist departments of the BGs and subsidiaries," says Stephanie Kornacker, Director Public Affairs & Research Funding. She is responsible for driving FORVIA HELLA's large-volume funding projects across all BGs at the political level and coordinates the application process. "The approved funding for the development of AI-driven simulation processes is the result of a great team effort that we can be very proud of and for which I would like to thank all the project teams involved." At a technical level, the course has been set for the rapid implementation of the project. "We see enormous potential through the integration of AI in the generation of data for training and validation for environment detection using radar," explain Dr. Ernst Warsitz, Director Radar Technology & Perception and Dr. Claas Tebrügge, Head of the Research Institute for Automotive Electronics (E-LAB) at FORVIA HELLA. Jürgen Mayntz, Head of Business Development at HELLA Aglaia, is also convinced: "The collaborative project will enable us to further develop our Traffic Rules Engine much faster and with more driving functions."

The joint project will be presented to the public at a press event with the German Federal Minister of Economics, Robert Habeck, at the beginning of April.