Frost & Sullivan Sparks Lively Discussion on the Future of the Driverless Car at Oxford University's Said Business School

OXFORD, England, March 15, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

- Partner Dorman Followwill spoke in front of an audience of 150 people from both the business and academic communities

Frost & Sullivan shared the podium with Oxford University at the "Cars of the Future" seminar that took place at its Said Business School earlier last week. Partner Dorman Followwill gave a presentation on Frost & Sullivan's vision of the developments that will drive the world toward safer and more autonomous automotive solutions. Frost & Sullivan was invited alongside Professor Paul Newman, Department of Engineering Science at Oxford, and Mr. Peter Day, BAE Systems.

Speaking before an audience of 150 people from both the business and academic communities, Mr. Followwill talked about the transport system and how this will develop during the coming years.

"The ubiquitous use of embedded sensors will enable the integration of passenger car driving dynamics, driver assistance and comfort technologies by roughly 2015," explained Mr. Followwill. "This will yield the critical vehicle systems necessary for semi-autonomous and autonomous driving solutions in the next 5-15 years.  Furthermore, the urban mobility system of the future will open significantly new applications across both the driver and driverless landscape." 

Frost & Sullivan's vision of the rich IT and sensor-fusion infrastructure necessary as the enabling context of the driverless car was seriously debated by Professor Paul Newman, Department of Engineering Science at Oxford. The academic posited the view that the future of the driverless car could actually be infrastructure free given the state of robotics software currently being researched and deployed by Professor Newman's team, in collaboration with BAE Systems, in a driverless vehicle on display both before and after the seminar.  In fact, the role of unmanned vehicles will further expand within the defence sector initially, before crossing over eventually to the consumer sector.

The seminar concluded that the groundbreaking robotic software and technology will require additional support from both public and private entities to make the world of the driverless car a safe reality in the future.

The event was organised by Oxford Centre of Entrepreneurship and Innovation as part of series titled "Oxford at Said."

Mr. Followwill's presentation is now available on SlideShare. Please click on or copy and paste the link below to see the slides. http://www.slideshare.net/FrostandSullivan/future-of-mobility-from-mega-trends-to-the-driverless-car

For further information on Frost & Sullivan research on cars of the future and unmanned vehicles, please contact chiara.carella@frost.com

About Frost & Sullivan
Frost & Sullivan, the Growth Partnership Company, enables clients to accelerate growth and achieve best-in-class positions in growth, innovation and leadership. The company's Growth Partnership Service provides the CEO and the CEO's Growth Team with disciplined research and best-practice models to drive the generation, evaluation, and implementation of powerful growth strategies. Frost & Sullivan leverages 50 years of experience in partnering with Global 1000 companies, emerging businesses and the investment community from more than 40 offices on six continents. To join our Growth Partnership, please visit http://www.frost.com.

Contact:
Chiara Carella
Corporate Communications - Europe
P: +44-(0)-20-7343-8314
M: +44-(0)-753-3017689
E: chiara.carella@frost.com
http://www.frost.com