Workshop on Connected Vehicles & Autonomous Driving

Event Date: Wedesday, 4 January 2023

Important Deadlines

Schedule

Invited Speakers

Dr. Kaushik Subramanian

Senior Research Scientist, Sony AI

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Outracing champion Gran Turismo drivers with deep reinforcement learning

Many potential applications of artificial intelligence involve making real-time decisions in physical systems while interacting with humans. Automobile racing represents an extreme example of these conditions; drivers must execute complex tactical maneuvers to pass or block opponents while operating their vehicles at their traction limits. Racing simulations, such as the PlayStation game Gran Turismo, faithfully reproduce the non-linear control challenges of real race cars while also encapsulating the complex multi-agent interactions. Here we describe how we trained agents for Gran Turismo that can compete with the world’s best e-sports drivers. We combine state-of-the-art, model-free, deep reinforcement learning algorithms with mixed-scenario training to learn an integrated control policy that combines exceptional speed with impressive tactics. In addition, we construct a reward function that enables the agent to be competitive while adhering to racing’s important, but under-specified, sportsmanship rules. We demonstrate the capabilities of our agent, Gran Turismo Sophy, by winning a head-to-head competition against four of the world’s best Gran Turismo drivers. By describing how we trained championship-level racers, we demonstrate the possibilities and challenges of using these techniques to control complex dynamical systems in domains where agents must respect imprecisely defined human norms.

Kaushik Subramanian is a Senior Research Scientist at Sony AI working on the flagship Gaming project. Before joining Sony, Kaushik was at Cogitai Inc., focusing on continual learning approaches for industrial applications and building a scalable, easy-to-use SaaS platform. He received his Ph.D. in 2017 from Georgia Institute of Technology, USA working on human-in-the-loop systems and exploration for reinforcement learning. His research interests broadly span algorithms for intelligent decision-making and interactive learning.

Prof. P. Rajalakshmi

Professor, Dean Students, Cyient Chair Professor (Future Communication), Director - NMICPS TiHAN Foundation Wireless Networks (WiNet) Lab Department of Electrical Engineering Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Hyderabad Kandi, Sangareddy, Telangana

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Autonomous Navigation Research at IITH

An overview of the Autonomous navigation research and development activities at IITH will be introduced. Systems that look for and react to different vulnerable road users (VRUs) are very useful in enabling the safety of autonomous vehicle. Specific use cases like Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB) for different real-time scenarios using multiple sensors like LiDAR and camera will be discussed during the talk.

Dr. P Rajalakshmi, is Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering, CYIENT Chair Professor in Future Communications, and Project Director of Technology Innovation Hub on Autonomous Navigations (TiHAN) at IIT Hyderabad. Her research areas: Autonomous Navigations, Drone based sensing, wireless communications, Internet of Things, Cyber Physical Systems targeting applications like autonomous transportations – aerial and terrestrial, agriculture, healthcare, environmental monitoring and smart buildings. She has been handling R&D projects funded by industry and Government of India in these areas. Along with fundamental research in IoT/CPS domain, she also emphasizes on translational research. Out of her research activities, she has filed 15 patents, published over 38 Journals and 100 conference peer-reviewed papers. She was awarded Young Faculty Research Fellowship under Visvesvaraya Programme. She is also Member of CII Telangana Digital Transformation and IT Panel since August 2018.

Dr. Ramachandra Budihal

Fellow, GM, Global Head, Autonomous Driving & Robotics
Wipro Limited, Bengaluru

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Dr Ramachandra Budihal - Fellow, GM, Global Head, Autonomous Driving & Robotics, Wipro Technologies, TED speaker and a National Awardee. He received his PhD from IISC Bangalore and has industry experience spanning over 2 decades.

His research interests include AI, Autonomous and Cognitive systems and networks, Imaging, Image processing, Computer vision, AR/VR/MR/XR, Robotics, HCI, and HCD, EV platforms. He was awarded a Presidential Honor in 2007 for his efforts to develop and use technology for Indian classical works, culture, and heritage preservation and promotion.. Over the years, his work has received extensive media coverage in magazines like MIT TechReview, WIRED, NYTIMES, Times of India, Deccan Herald, IE.

Currently, he is working at the intersection of multiple technologies for humanizing autonomous mobility, which means building an autonomous vehicle that has a human touch.

Accepted Papers

1. Impact of V2V Communication on Energy Consumption of Connected Electric Trucks in Stable Platoon Formation
   Dr. Devika Koonthalakdu Baby (University of Exeter, UK), Dr. Rohith G (Orbital Astronautics, UK), Dr. Shankar Subramanian (Indian Institute of Technology Madras, India)
   
   
2. Novel Crash Prevention Framework for C-V2X using Deep Learning
   Ms. Foram Shah (Ahmedabad University, India), Dr. Dhaval Karshanbhai Patel (Ahmedabad University, India), Mr. Kashish Dineshbhai Shah (Ahmedabad University, India), Prof. Mehul Shirishchandra Raval (School of Engineering and Applied Science, Ahmedabad University, India), Mr. Mukesh Zaveri (Sardar Vallabhai National Institute of Technology, surat, India), Dr. Shabbir N Merchant (IIT Bombay, India)
   
   
3. Smartverse: Blockchain based Crowdsourced V2X Message Verification and Dissemination System
   Mr. Jivthesh Mr (Vishwa Vidyapeetham, India), Mrs. Rohit Mathew Samuel (Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, India), Mrs. Gaushik Mr (Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, India), Mr. Sai Shibu N B (Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, India), Prof. Sethuraman N Rao (Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, India), Mr. Nidhin Mahesh A (Rubix Networks, India)
   
   
4. VeCEn: A Data Acquisition Framework for Heterogeneous Vehicular Networks
   Dr. Sagar Kavaiya (Ahmedabad University, India), Dr. Dhaval Karshanbhai Patel (Ahmedabad University, India), Mr. Mukesh Zaveri (Sardar Vallabhai National Institute of Technology, surat, India), Prof. Mehul Shirishchandra Raval (School of Engineering and Applied Science, Ahmedabad University, India), Dr. Shabbir N Merchant (IIT Bombay, India)
   
   
5. A Lightweight IoT-Based Framework for Vehicular Ad Hoc Network (VANET) [Accepted in the ITS special sessions track]
   Chandra Shekhar, Jagnyashini Debadarshini, Puneet Kumar Singh, Sudipta Saha (Computer Science and Engineering, School of Electrical Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Bhubaneswar, India)
   
   

Connected and autonomous vehicles are transforming many sectors of economy and everyday activities especially in the context of smart autonomous mobility, smart cities etc. There exist many unprecedented challenges that arise from Connected autonomous Vehicles Technologies. These include challenges related but not limited to connected vehicles security and connectivity, vehicular networks, sensor information fusion and communication, ADAS technology, vehicle-vehicle and vehicle-pedestrian interaction etc. There is also a need for customized communication technology for the integrated solutions of connected vehicles and smart mobility sub-systems.

The aim of the First International Workshop on connected autonomous vehicles and autonomous driving is to bring together engineers, researchers, and practitioners interested in the advances and applications of this field. Participants are invited to present and discuss recent developments and challenges in connected and autonomous vehicle systems. This workshop focuses on innovative applications, tools and frameworks, real-world data driven approaches, experimentation, advanced deployment and case studies in all technology areas related to connected and autonomous vehicles in the context of smart mobility, smart cities and other application domains. Studies involving economic, behavioral and environmental aspects are equally welcome.

The workshop will also include a special session on intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) this year. Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) is an amalgamation of cutting-edge technologies and communication used in traffic control and management systems to improve the sustainability, effectiveness, and safety of transportation networks. It is an innovative facility that aims to provide information prior to road users, enhancing drivers’ experiences and making safer, coordinated and 'smart' use of transport networks. ITS has diverse applications that improve many road traffic issues, including shortening travel times by delivering real-time information on traffic management. The workshop along with the special session will serve as a forum to exchange ideas, present new results, and provide future visions on these topics.

Topics of interest

1. Technology concerning the breadth and depth of Connected and Autonomous vehicles (CAVs) (Control, localization, safe navigation, ADAS)
2. Collaborative, cooperative control and planning of CAVs
3. Communication protocols and technologies for CAVs
4. Human factors and human machine interfaces for CAVs
5. CAV Enabled Smart Cities and infrastructure Applications, ethical and technical requirements, security and privacy aspects
6. 5G Technologies and Applications for CV and AVs
7. Vehicle to Everything (V2X) - Infrastructure (I), Pedestrian (P), Network (N) and Vehicle (V)
8. Sensor calibration, information processing and fusion techniques for autonomous vehicles
9. Vehicle Communications and Architectures.
10. SIL/HIL//VIL platforms for both connected and autonomous vehicles.
11. Simulations and Experimental Demonstrations in Testbeds - CAVs.
12. Autonomous driving datasets relevant to CAVs and mixed traffic scenarios
13. Performance evaluation in connected vehicles, advanced driver assistance, autonomous vehicles technology, etc.
14. Public policy, regulatory, societal and certification issues in Connected and Autonomous vehicles

ITS Special Session Topics:

1. Intelligent Infrastructure and Travelers’ Guidance Systems
2. ITS on Road Traffic Safety, Management of Incidents, Evacuation, Emergency Events
3. Advanced Public Transportation Management, Traffic Management, Mobility Management
4. Big Data Analytics for Intelligent Transportation
5. Automotive safety standards for active safety.
6. Congestion Management and Avoidance
7. Advanced Commercial Vehicles Operations System
8. Electronic Payment Systems
9. ITS Traffic Theory, Field Tests and Implementation
10. ITS in Human Factors, Travel Behavior

Submission Guidelines

1. Submissions must be no greater than 6 pages in length including all figures, tables, and references and must be a PDF file. A minimum number of 3 pages are required.
2. Submissions must be original work that has not been previously published or under review at another conference or journal
3. Reviews will be single-blind: authors name and affiliation should be included in the submission.
4. Submissions must follow the formatting guidelines as given on IEEE Website.
5. All workshop papers (full papers - both regular and invited) will appear in conference proceedings and be submitted to IEEE Xplore as well as other Abstracting and Indexing (A&I) databases.
6. All papers must be in Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) and submitted through the CVADs Workshop submission site on EDAS - https://edas.info/N29764.

Program Committee:

• Sharat Agarwal, IIIT Delhi
• Shivangi Agarwal, IIIT Delhi
• Sandeep Banik, Michigan State University
• Puneet Jain, Brigham young University, Utah
• Malyala Pavana Ravi Sai Kiran, IIT Jodhpur
• Ambuj Mehrish, Singapore university of Tech and Design
• Anjaly Parayil, MSR India
• Lokender Tiwari, TCS Research
• Akshay Ramesh, Jadhav IIT Hyderabad
• Amar Verma, IIT Hyderabad
• Shalini Verma, IIT Roorkee

Special Session Chair

Madhumita Paul

Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur, India

Workshop Co-Chairs

M N Praveen Babu

IIT Hyderabad, India

Alvika Gautam

TAMU, USA

Rashmi Gopala Rao

MathWorks, India

Anil Sharma

EY, India