University of Luxembourg and a Silicon Valley start-up collaborate for smart mobility

The Grand-Duchy is seen as the European hub for innovation in the smart mobility sector

Earlier this month, the University of Luxembourg and a Silicon Valley start-up launched a partnership on smart mobility, reports Luxinnovation, an agency that supports the project. Civil Maps and the University of Luxembourg’s Interdisciplinary Centre for Security, Reliability and Trust (SnT) will be working on autonomous driving technology. In particular, the partnership is expected to expand the country’s research focus on self-driving vehicles.

Innovation in the smart mobility field

Civil Maps has developed a unique and scalable high definition, 3D mapping and localisation solution suitable for routing autonomous vehicles. Now, the new research project is aimed to improve exactly this maps solution.

The High definition (HD) maps redesigned to provide highly specific and accurate information about all the details of a route, including deviations and obstacles, explain Luxinnovation. This is essential for the proper functioning of the autonomous vehicles as they provide the information that road signs and markings usually give to drivers. These maps are more detailed than standard definition maps, used by traditional navigation services such as car GPS and mobile apps.

As part of the collaboration, the product of Civil Maps will benefit from the expertise of SnT the fields of machine learning and visual recognition in order to further develop and automate the map creation processes.

“In order to make self-driving cars a reality, a lot of technology development is still required, making this a vibrant research field,” said Dr Raphaël Frank, Principal Investigator and Head of the 360Lab, quoted by Luxinnovation. “By partnering with Civil Maps, we will be able to collaborate closely with a promising start-up in the sector that will ensure we push innovation in the field that much further”, he continued.

Last year Civil Maps set up its European HQ in the Grand-Duchy targeting the European market for self-driving cars and logistics. “We see Luxembourg as the European hub for innovation in the smart mobility sector. The work that SnT is doing reinforces that position,” said Stefan Safko, the company’s CEO. “By teaming up with highly reputed universities such as the University of Luxembourg, we see incredible potential in what we can build together.”