With around 50 researchers and state-of-the-art laboratory facilities, KU-CARS provides a vibrant multidisciplinary environment for conducting robotics and autonomous vehicle-related research and innovation.
Sheikh Hamed said: “The autonomous vehicle at Khalifa University’s SAN Campus reflects the University’s commitment to contribute to Abu Dhabi’s Vision 2030 targets towards creating a knowledge economy, and making Abu Dhabi a world hub of research and development. It also contributes towards driving innovation while creating knowledge and human capital. Congratulations to the faculty, researchers and student engineers who have done a commendable job by making us proud of such an achievement by a local university in the UAE.”
During his visit, Sheikh Hamed met with students from ‘Al Nokhba’ programme, who are also members of National and Reserve Service, in the presence of Brigadier-General Obaid Ali Al-Mansoori, Director of the Directorate of Information and Corporate Communication, National and Reserve Service Authority, discussed research projects related to autonomous shuttles, and then took a group photo with the UAE Military trainees.
After the launch, Sheikh Hamed travelled in the driverless AV between various buildings within the SAN Campus.
Members of the Khalifa University Board of Trustees including Salem Rashed Al Nuaimi, Chief Executive Officer, Abu Dhabi Health Services Company, SEHA, Salem Butti Salem AlQubaisi, Director-General, UAE Space Agency, and Humaid Al Shammari, Deputy Group CEO and Chief Corporate and Human Capital Officer, Mubadala Investment Company, also attended at the event, in addition to Dr. Arif Sultan Al Hammadi, Executive Vice President, Khalifa University.
Sheikh Hamed also visited the Khalifa University Centre for Autonomous Robotics Systems (KU-CARS) at SAN campus, which includes the shuttle’s operations room. He showed keen interest to learn more about the safety and security features of the AV, vehicle tracking techniques, the surveillance camera network system and other features of the Khalifa University AV. Dr. Lakmal Seneviratne, Director, KUCARS, and Dr. Jorge Manuel Miranda Dias, Professor, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, offered Sheikh Hamed an overview of the entire project.
Later, Sheikh Hamed visited the Autonomous Vehicles Lab to know more about future plans including a project to fulfill conditions for driving the shuttle without an operator, the SAN Campus simulator, and the simulator platform to design new algorithms.
Unmanned drone [next page]
