On the road to the car of the future
Published 1 March 2012
The head of a world-leading research centre on electronic automobiles will outline the challenges facing experts seeking to develop the driver-less cars of the future in a lecture this month.
Professor Elias Stipidis will deliver his inaugural lecture on 15 March on the obstacles that have to be overcome to make 'drive by wire' cars commercially viable.
His lecture, Electronic Architectures: Organising vehicle sub-systems, will give an insight into the work of vehicle electronics or vetronics researchers who, in the past decade, have transformed our idea of the motor vehicle by integrating both mechanical and electrical/electronic components in one engine.
Many technologies, techniques and methodologies have adopted the fly-by-wire system common in the airline industry. This replaces conventional manual flight controls with an electronic interface allowing planes to be flown automatically by the aircraft's computers. Despite significant progress, however, Professor Stipidis says there are many challenges that a drive-by-wire capability in cars has to overcome to be commercially viable. They include technological, legal, safety and human factors.
Professor Stipidis is director of the Vetronics Research Centre (VRC) at the School of Computing, Engineering and Mathematics at the University of Brighton where he specialises in networking, embedded and systems engineering and management.
A world class researcher in his field, he is a Fellow of the Institute of Engineering and Technology and was the academic founder of the VRC, working in collaboration with industry and government.
The centre is a unique independent centre of excellence which promotes innovation in vehicle electronics systems integration and brings government, academia and industry closer.
The University of Brighton is a pioneer in vehicle electronics and launched the first UK masters course in automotive electronic engineering in 2010. The course was developed in collaboration with Ricardo Consulting Engineers at Shoreham as a result of concerns about the shortage of specialist engineers in the UK and because of the university's strong research background in automotive engineering.
Electronic Architectures: Organising vehicle sub-systems
Professor Stipidis' lecture takes place at 6.30pm on 15 March at the Huxley Building, University of Brighton, Lewes Road, Brighton BN2 4GJ. If you wish to attend the lecture please book a place. All welcome.
Read more research news...
Contact: Marketing and Communications, University of Brighton, 01273 643022
