The AIthena project (“AI-based CCAM: Trustworthy, Explainable, and Accountable”) has started on 1st of November 2022, and it was officially launched during a kick-off meeting in Brussels on 28-29 November 2022 with partners representatives as well as representatives from the European Commission were present during the project launch. The AIthena consortium partners, with the lead of VICOMTECH, presented their roles and contributions to the research and innovation project. The EC presentations were about the policy context and state of play of Connected, Cooperative and Automated Mobility (CCAM) including the CCAM partnership and the EC’s priorities related to CCAM.
The AIthena consortium is formed by 17 partners and led by VICOMTECH: Applus+ IDIADA, Bergische Universität Wuppertal, Continental, Eindhoven University of Technology, Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile Region I, Infineon, International Road Transport Union, MAPtm, Rupprecht Consult – Forschung & Beratung GmbH, RWTH Aachen University, SIEMENS Belgium, and the Netherlands, TNO: Innovation for life, TTTech Auto, Valeo, and Virtual Vehicle Research GmbH.
The AIthena project focuses on Connected and Cooperative Automated Mobility solutions, with the goal of developing CCAM technologies that are trustworthy, explainable, and accountable. They are more frequently found in automotive technologies, which gain from artificial intelligence (AI) to develop decision-making and situational awareness systems. However, AI can be prejudiced and sensitive to unexpected inputs. The next essential step in technology development is to create reliable Artificial Intelligence, combining crucial attributes like robustness, privacy, explainability, responsibility and ethics.
A representative from the European Commission presented the policy context and motivation behind the support for the AIthena project. Never before the potential of AI for the development of self-driving cars has been so great, but despite the enormous potential of the technology, some aspects of AI remain largely unexplored, like explainability (interpretability of how models work), privacy (exposure of sensitive data), ethics (biases and desired/unwanted behaviour) and accountability (responsibility for AI results).
The AIthena project is scheduled to run for 36 months, until October 2025, and is funded by the European Union’s Horizon Europe Research and Innovation Programme.