Two years of AImotion Bavaria: Anniversary event with over 200 guests

On Nov. 16, 2020, AImotion Bavaria, the THI institute that is home to the Bavaria-wide hub for AI mobility research, was officially founded - at the time with five AI professorships filled. Two years later, 26 professors in an almost 80-strong team of scientists are conducting research here in nine different subject areas.

On the occasion of the two-year anniversary of AImotion Bavaria, more than 200 guests from science, business and state and municipal administration came together at the invitation of the THI and the Bavarian AI Agency to look back on what has been achieved and to jointly initiate new projects.

THI President Prof. Dr. Walter Schober said in his welcome address: "Artificial intelligence will shape the economic success and prosperity of our society. For AI research in Bavaria's key mobility industry, Ingolstadt has been named a node in the Bavarian AI network as part of the High-Tech Agenda Bavaria 2019. We thank the state government for the trust it has placed in THI. Something is being created in AImotion Bavaria that will have an impact beyond Ingolstadt and Bavaria."

In his keynote speech, Minister of State Dr Florian Herrmann praised the pace that THI is setting with AImotion Bavaria: "The AI hub Mobility and the AImotion Bavaria Institute are already writing success stories after only two years and are beacons in Bavaria as a science location. More than 13,000 additional university places, 1,000 new professorships, more than 20 centres of excellence - that is the high-tech agenda, worth €3.5 billion and our answer to the global transformation processes. Artificial intelligence plays a prominent role in making our state fit for the future. That is why we are covering the whole of Bavaria with an AI network and forming AI hubs at outstanding locations. We could not have found a more suitable location for the AI hub for mobility than the mobility hub Ingolstadt with its excellent Technische Hochschule Ingolstadt. The AImotion Bavaria Institute already employs 78 people and by 2025 there will be at least 120 scientists who will sustainably carry the Bavarian AI offensive into the future. The institute is extremely well networked and already has a wealth of partnerships and collaborations. This is a success story and illustrates how a unique AI ecosystem is being created throughout the state, from which all regions in Bavaria will benefit."

The scientific director of AImotion Bavaria, Prof. Dr. Michael Botsch, explained the broad research field covered by AImotion Bavaria: "In AImotion Bavaria, we research and use AI in the perception, planning and control of road or air vehicles, in the optimisation of traffic flows, in data-based mobility services and for digital production, especially in the mobility industry. In addition to the technical, the social and ethical view of the consequences of the use of AI also plays an important role for us."

Institute Director Prof. Botsch then led a tour through an exhibition that presented cooperation partners and projects of AImotion Bavaria. An overview of ongoing research projects is available at https://www.thi.de/en/research/aimotion/