NEWS

In April 2024, Darwin’s co-founder Daniela Petrovic had the opportunity to speak to MBA students at the University of Oxford’s Saïd Business School. It was the second time Daniela had spoken at the business school, having previously been invited as a guest lecturer in February 2023. Founded in 1996, Saïd Business School is a highly regarded centre for business and management studies. Its alumni include Dame Emily Lawson, who received a damehood in the 2022 New Year Honours for leading the NHS’s COVID-19 vaccination programme. Daniela delivered a lecture on the innovation ecosystem approach to digital transformation, took questions and encouraged discussion. The conversation examined the challenges and opportunities presented by new technologies, such as artificial intelligence, and the ways that industry and government can best make use of this emergent technology. ‘It was a pleasure to go back to my old school and provide insights to this year’s cohort of MBA students,’ Daniela said. ‘We’re honoured to see Darwin used as an emergent tech company example for the future leaders at one of the world’s most prestigious business schools.’ If you’d like to know more about the digital transformation insights that Darwin has to offer, you can learn about the Darwin Business Innovation Lab, which offers advice and support to interested organisations, on our R&D page. Darwin Innovation Group is a UK-based company that provides services related to autonomous vehicles and communications. If you’re interested in working with us, take a look at our careers page. If you’d like to know how we can help your organisation make use of autonomous vehicles, contact us. You can also follow us on LinkedIn or Twitter.

On Monday 15 April, in preparation for Canada hosting the G7 summit in 2025, the High Commission of Canada in the UK held a roundtable discussion on AI adoption. This was an opportunity to examine how artificial intelligence is currently used, how its use is expected to evolve, and what gaps exist in present-day AI regulation. The roundtable took place at Canada House in London. The facilitator of the discussion was OpenText, a Canadian company specialising in information management and digital transformation. The attendees included company and government representatives from both the UK and Canada. Darwin took part alongside participants from institutions such as Shell, Nestlé, the Digital Catapult, the Canada Pension Plan and the NHS. Daniela Petrovic, Darwin’s co-founder, spoke at the roundtable about Darwin’s involvement in using AI for insurance modelling. She said it was a pleasure to represent Darwin in the discussion. ‘It was a great honour for Darwin to be invited as a participant, and to help inform global policies in the AI arena.’ Points that arose at the roundtable and will later be used to inform G7 discussion included: Data concerns Data privacy and uncontrolled data sharing were among the largest concerns to come up in the discussion. Because generative AI needs to be trained on huge quantities of data in order to work effectively, it may not be feasible to inspect all the training data before it’s introduced to the AI model. What if personal or sensitive data finds its way into the dataset? And, if an AI model is mistakenly trained on sensitive data, what if someone then requests that information from the model, whether it’s a trade secret or someone’s home address? In its publication ‘How to use AI and personal data appropriately and lawfully’, the Information Commissioner’s Office recommends using AI only when necessary, on account of privacy concerns: ‘You should assess whether you need to use AI for the context you will deploy it in. AI is generally considered a high-risk technology and there may be a more privacy-preserving and effective alternative.’ Checking and correcting AI output Human input will still be required to make effective use of AI. It’s important to recognise that generative AI isn’t truly intelligent. In other words, current AI models don’t truly understand the content they’re producing. This means that AI output can include ‘hallucinations’: incorrect or invented details that sound plausible based on the material that was used for training. Because of this, AI models can’t be used to create material without supervision. If text written using AI is published online without editing, it may contain factual errors and, moreover, may then be used to train other AI models, further spreading false information. To avoid issues like this, a human will need to check AI output for accuracy and rewrite it where necessary. AI is here to stay AI is already in use in many corporate settings, and, now that it’s been made widely available, its introduction can’t be undone. Because of this, it makes sense for discussions about AI to focus on how AI can be used responsibly and effectively, rather on whether AI should be used at all. One way or another, institutions will need to work out how to operate in a world with AI. Even if an organisation opts not to use AI itself, it will need to understand how other people might be using it. This is a subject that also arose at the ABI conference earlier this year: whether an insurer uses AI or not, it will need to be aware of the possibility that people will use AI to make fraudulent claims, for example by generating false images of damaged items. If governments strike the right balance in AI regulation, and if people are trained effectively in what AI is capable of and how to mitigate the risks involved, we can help to ensure that artificial intelligence is used as a beneficial tool across countless industries. Darwin Innovation Group is a UK-based company that provides services related to autonomous vehicles and communications. If you’re interested in working with us, take a look at our careers page. If you’d like to know how we can help your organisation make use of autonomous vehicles, contact us. You can also follow us on LinkedIn or Twitter.

On 27 March, the Satellite Applications Catapult launched the UK Autonomous and Connected Earth (UK-ACE) Connected Capability Network (CCN). Darwin was delighted to attend the kick-off, which took place at the Catapult’s headquarters at Harwell Science and Innovation Campus. Founded in 2013, the Satellite Applications Catapult works to support and advance the UK space sector. It aims to encourage new ideas and help guide satellite applications from research to reality. This is the Satellite Applications Catapult’s second CCN, following the UK Earth Observation Network for Sustainability, which was launched in 2023. The purpose of these networks is to bring together organisations from across the space sector, enabling them to achieve new heights together. The UK-ACE CCN will host events and activities to encourage collaboration, and we’re looking forward to seeing the results. We’re enthusiastic about the potential of collaborative projects like these CCNs, as Darwin was originally founded five years ago with a strong belief in the power of working together. In our work with satellite communications, we’ve already made strides by working with other space sector players such as ESA, UKSA, Hispasat and the Satellite Applications Catapult itself. Darwin’s remote control centre, where we research the remote operation of connected vehicles, is located in the Catapult building. The two self-driving shuttles of the Darwin Autonomous Shuttle service were present at the event, and attendees were welcome to board. This shuttle service, established with the help of Darwin’s partners, demonstrates what can be achieved through collaboration. With the UK-ACE CCN aiming to support the integration of space technology into daily life in many areas, including transportation, we may be seeing new advances in the world of connected vehicles soon. Darwin Innovation Group is a UK-based company that provides services related to autonomous vehicles and communications. If you’re interested in working with us, take a look at our careers page. If you’d like to know how we can help your organisation make use of autonomous vehicles, contact us. You can also follow us on LinkedIn or Twitter.

2024 was the third year of LEAP, a major annual tech conference based in Saudi Arabia. Held from 4 to 7 March in Riyadh, the 2024 event proved to be the largest LEAP yet, with over 215,000 attendees. Like last year, Darwin had a place in the UK Pavilion. The event was a great opportunity to connect with other organisations, and to speak with Saudi Arabian government sectors about the Kingdom’s vision for smart mobility. Darwin’s team spoke to representatives from a variety of fields about our wide-ranging work with autonomous transport and communications technology. The organisations we engaged with included the Saudi Space Agency, Saudi Telecom, Tabadul, solutions by stc, Zain, Mobily, Aramco, Salam, Plant-Tech Arabia, BIAC, Syarah, e-Marefa, the Riyadh Development Authority, the Saudi Ports Authority, the Saudi General Authority of Civil Aviation, and the Ministry of Transport and Logistic Services. ‘Witnessing the rapid transformation of LEAP into a digital technology hub was truly remarkable,’ said Irving Galva Tapia, one of Darwin’s autonomous vehicle experts. ‘Representing Darwin at such a prestigious global event was an honour. It was inspiring to see Saudi Arabia’s ongoing commitment to investing in its digital future, and LEAP 2024 underscored the Kingdom’s dedication to fostering technology growth.’ LEAP has swiftly established an important place in the technological world since its founding in 2022, and we’re looking forward to seeing it continue to grow from year to year! Darwin Innovation Group is a UK-based company that provides services related to autonomous vehicles and communications. If you’re interested in working with us, take a look at our careers page. If you’d like to know how we can help your organisation make use of autonomous vehicles, contact us. You can also follow us on LinkedIn or Twitter.

The 2024 ABI Conference, organised by the Association of British Insurers, was held on 27 February in London. This annual event is a chance for insurers to network and discuss the challenges and opportunities facing the insurance industry. Darwin was at the conference to introduce our new autonomous shuttle, the second vehicle to be added to the existing Darwin Autonomous Shuttle service, in collaboration with Aviva, the European Space Agency, the UK Space Agency and the University of Salford. We’re sharing data from the service with Aviva to help them develop insurance products for self-driving vehicles. The event was a great opportunity to introduce Darwin’s work to the attendees and gain greater insight into the insurance industry. It was a particular pleasure to speak to Aviva’s passionate, friendly and knowledgeable team. Our shuttle experts Paul and Irving were on hand to answer any questions people might have about the shuttle. The vehicle drew a lot of attention and had plenty of visitors over the course of the day, with the opportunity to look at the output from the shuttle’s LiDAR sensors on the on-board screen. Many of the attendees were curious to know whether the shuttle was just a visual concept or an actual working autonomous vehicle. It’s a working vehicle, and you can see it driving itself around at Harwell Science and Innovation Campus! Eventually, of course, self-driving vehicles will be a commonplace sight; the residents of Harwell Campus are already used to having the Darwin Autonomous Shuttle as a transport option. For now, though, they’re still a new and exciting thing, and it was great to see the interest from visitors. One of the pleasures of working with autonomous vehicles is getting the opportunity to see all the enthusiasm for the potential of this new technology. Insurance is relevant to many different fields, so it’s no surprise that the panels at the conference tackled a wide variety of topics. The industry challenges that came up in discussion included: Sustainability and climate change. Mary Portas spoke about the futility of trying to prioritise the economy over the environment when the environment of our planet affects everything else on the planet, the economy included. The cost of living crisis and the affordability of insurance. Many speakers expressed concern that people, particularly young people, were finding it increasingly difficult to afford insurance. Tara Foley, CEO of AXA UK and Ireland, suggested that autonomous vehicles might have a role to play here by reducing risks on the road, which could result in premium decreases. Artificial intelligence. The increasing capability and prominence of AI presents both opportunities and concerns for many industries. David Crelley, data ethics lead at Admiral, spoke about how AI is ultimately a tool, and it needs to be understood and used correctly in order to be helpful. If users of AI are trained in what it is and isn’t capable of, they can benefit from its capabilities while also recognising and guarding against errors or data biases. Sam White, the founder of Stella Insurance, spoke about how creativity is important for finding new solutions, but the insurance industry has difficulty presenting itself as creative or exciting and therefore struggles to attract creative people. By reshaping its image, the industry might be able to attract a more diverse range of skills and break new ground. The conference was an interesting look at the current landscape of the insurance industry, and we’re looking forward to seeing how that landscape changes as self-driving vehicles become more widespread. For more about our work with insurers, take a look at our insurtech page. Darwin Innovation Group is a UK-based company that provides services related to autonomous vehicles and communications. If you’re interested in working with us, take a look at our careers page. If you’d like to know how we can help your organisation make use of autonomous vehicles, contact us. You can also follow us on LinkedIn or Twitter.