Generative AI with a view to level 4 and level 5 driving

nxtAIM in exchange with the relevant national players from politics, science and industry at the TACHELES conference of the FZI Research Centre for Information Technology

At the second TACHELES Conference of the FZI Research Centre for Information Technology on 18 June 2024, everything revolved around the topic of generative AI for autonomous and connected driving. The approximately 100 participants at the CyberForum in Karlsruhe heard exciting presentations, were able to participate in panel discussions, expand their network and were invited to work on specific questions on key topics of generative AI for AVF in workshops.

The nxtAIM coordinators Dr. Jörg Reichardt and Dr. Ulrich Kreßel are members of the TACHELES programme advisory board and helped develop the topics on the agenda. The topic of generative AI for autonomous and connected driving was discussed intensively in the workshop ‘Metrics – Who measures, measures crap’. Both coordinators contributed their expertise to the debate. Other workshops on the agenda included ‘Generative AI for simulations in autonomous driving: Requirements, potentials and limits’, as well as framework conditions “Implementing AI successfully in the automotive environment from a technical and regulatory perspective”.

While last year’s first edition of TACHELES – the other conference on autonomous and connected driving focussed on the homologation of level 3 and level 4 systems and vehicles, this year’s event took up the omnipresent topic of generative AI. The promises associated with this are huge and the theory is that it could revolutionise autonomous driving. The conference explored the question of whether we are possibly just succumbing to another hype or whether the universal technology opens up decisive new opportunities that we need on the development path of automated driving to the higher levels 4 and 5.

In his keynote speech, Sascha Pallenberg, a renowned tech blogger, impressively demonstrated the technical development of computing power over the last 15 years and gave an impression of what is and will be possible with today’s AI and chip technologies – from fully automated production processes and autonomous driving to global weather forecasting models. The two subsequent presentations by Axel Gern and Jan Zawadzki focussed on autonomous driving. In their presentations, the two made it clear how generative AI can influence further development and, above all, play into the hands of the European automotive industry’s promise to bring safe autonomous driving to the roads. The players in China and the USA are also currently reaching their technical limits here.

Controversial panel discussion with audience participation

The subsequent panel discussion, in which Tille Rupp from Porsche Engineering, Rebekka Görge from Fraunhofer IAIS and Prof. Tim Fingscheidt from TU Braunschweig took part as further experts, also centred on these and other topics. As a representative of the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Transport and patron of TACHELES, Philipp Franke contributed the political component to the discussion. The audience was also able to ask numerous questions and provide additional knowledge during the one-hour programme.

Heated workshops on metrics, simulation and framework conditions

In the afternoon, the programme included joint work in three themed workshops. In the simulation workshop, it became evident that the ability to generate synthetic data using generative AI, and thus create and test traffic scenarios at will, is very promising and is accordingly a key focus for both industry and academia. Last but not least, this workshop made it clear how great the need is for common standards for the wider use of simulated data.

In the subsequent workshop panel, all participants were able to gain an overview of the approaches taken in the workshops, the identified pain points and lightbulb moments. Initial ideas for recommendations for action were also presented, combined with an appeal to build on these important discussions and continue them – be it in research projects, working groups or interdisciplinary challenges. As the FZI host, Marius Zöllner closed the second TACHELES conference on autonomous and connected driving visibly satisfied. He spoke in favour of the next edition in 2025 and at the same time called for suggestions for topics.

Further information about TACHELES – the other conference on autonomous and connected driving, can be found on the website.