Tag: Oxford University

UK presses ahead on driverless cars

Posted on February 11, 2015 by - News

Screen Shot 2015-02-11 at 10.41.23The Department for Transport said that it had given the green light to test driverless cars on public roads.

Transport minister Claire Perry said she believes “driverless cars are the future. I want Britain to be at the forefront of this exciting new development to embrace a technology that could transform our roads and open up a brand new route for global investment”.

The coalition government launched a competition to research and develop driverless cars with pilots in Greenwich, Bristol, Milton Keynes and Coventry.

Business secretary Vince Cable said he believed that the industry will be worth as much as £900 billion in 10 years time.

Perry and Cable are visiting the Greenwich project, which is following up research conducted by Oxford University and Nissan.

They will unveil a driverless pod that will be tested in Milton Keynes (pictured).

The government will introduce a code of practice to give industry a framework to trial cars, to be published this spring.

Imaging hub gets £29 million funding

Posted on November 26, 2014 by - News

glasgowA unit called the Quantum Imaging Hub is to receive funding from the Engineering and Physical Sciences research Council (ESPRC) to the tune of £29 million over the next five years.

The hub includes academics from the universities of Glasgow, Bristil, Edinburgh, Heriot-Watt, Oxford and Strathclyde and has over 30 industry partners.

Industry partners and other interested bodies  include Scottish Enterprise, BP, Compound Semiconductor Tech, ST Microelectronics, Thales Optronics Ltd, Toshiba and the UK Astronomy Technology Centre.

The hub will be working on some pretty groovy stuff, including cameras that use one pixel to see through smoke, imaging systems that can see round corners, and earthquake warning systems.

A camera development led by scientists at Heriot-Watt uses photon timing techniques to see round corners and see through walls or biological tissue.

The Quantum Imaging Hub is to be coordinated from a quantum technologies facility the University of Glasgow is building.

Robots will steal UK jobs

Posted on November 10, 2014 by - News

Oxford's own Bridge of Sighs, pic Mike MageePeople in the UK will have more time to watch daytime TV if the result of a survey by an Oxford University team of scientists in conjunction with Deloitte is to be believed.

According to the survey, 35 percent of UK jobs and 30 percent of jobs in London look set to be taken over by automatons or by automated processes. London employers say advances in technology will be the most important reason for job losses.

And if you’re unlucky enough to be earning less than £30,000 a year, your job is five times more likely to be replaced.

While 73 percent of London businesses plan to increase their headcounts, 84 percent of those firms say skills of employees will have to change to include digital know-how, management and creativity.

Over 36 percent of London businesses will invest in bigger properties, the survey said.