Distinguished Professorship (University of applied sciences)

Software architectures for autonomous driving and flight systems are continuously evolving, particularly in terms of increased computing power, optimised performance and reliability. Prof. Dr. Alvarez's research investigates modern architectures, particularly with regard to the location and type of execution of computational tasks involved in automated driving and autonomous flying, with a focus on monitoring and understanding functional dependencies and evaluating the capabilities of the automated system under changing runtime conditions. Likewise, scenarios of V2X (Vehicle to Everything) communication with other road users and the transport infrastructure are considered.

Prof. Dr. Alvarez's appointment is aimed at strengthening the scientific expertise of the THI as an AI mobility hub and, by considering architectural and integration aspects, at promoting interdisciplinary cooperation between the THI's research-strong mobility areas while also advancing the transfer to industry. In the field of automated mobility systems, significant transfer contributions are expected in the development and transfer of technological developments to the German automotive and automotive supply industry as well as to Prof. Dr. Alvarez's aviation industry. His professional network particularly strengthens international research relations with US scientific networks and tech companies that are currently leading the way in the fields of autonomous driving, flying and software architectures.

Safety is the top priority for autonomous driving and flying. Prof. Dr. Alvarez's research aims to explore the limits of automated driving and flying in terms of safety. His research will focus on the integration of the Responsibility Sensitive Safety Models (RSS) developed and standardised by him with decision-making through Reinforcement Learning and the explainability of the automated system's actions and capabilities for human interpretation. The research objective is to develop a clear and transparent interaction mechanism between the automated driving/flying system and its human passengers, in order to balance user comfort with risk within the limits of safety performance. This requires a fundamental addition in order to understand and, if necessary, expand the security monitoring of the software stack for automated driving and flying in the driving context. The research adds an important practical aspect to the successful research within CARISSMA. Since Prof. Dr. Alvarez offers the RSS he developed as open source software and has contributed it to the standardisation process in IEEE 2846, RSS has a high visibility. The further development and use of RSS will bring international attention to the THI and attract talented researchers and students from around the world. By appointing Prof. Dr. Alvarez, the university is pursuing the goal of strengthening the international position of the THI as a nationwide scientific centre for vehicle safety.

The introduction of automated driving and flight technologies places stringent demands on monitoring the performance of the human driver. At SAE Level 3 (Automated Mode), the human is no longer required to control the vehicle, but must instead continuously monitor the performance of the automation. 

Prof. Dr. Alvarez will develop robust in-cabin monitoring that uses multimodality (camera, audio, lidar and radar) to map activities in the vehicle and develop an accurate model of the human operator. The research objective is to develop a real-time model of the user with accurate behavioural prediction and modelling that can be used by the automated system to assess the role and capabilities of humans in relation to driving and driving monitoring tasks.
Alvarez's research makes a significant contribution to the social debate on autonomous driving and flying and thus increases the national and international visibility of THI as a scientific centre for vehicle safety.

Prof. Dr. Alvarez's research will investigate the design of user interfaces that are able to effectively communicate the role, capabilities and predictions of the automated driving and flight system for the common goal of safe driving. In addition, it will develop interaction mechanisms based on responsible AI principles that enhance the user experience. The application of this research includes the design of multimodal user interfaces, natural language understanding and generation, and traditional and non-traditional paradigms of driving interaction. With his appointment, THI is pursuing the goal of making significant transfer contributions in the development and transfer of technology developments to the German automotive, aviation and supplier industries.

Machine programming is an emerging area of computer science research that uses the capabilities of generative AI to develop computer systems. In its current early stages, generative AI is used to support tasks where human attention to detail tends to wane (e.g. code review, parameter testing and optimisation of computing power).

Prof. Dr. Alvarez will explore how human expertise can be used in combination with artificial intelligence for the joint programming of automated systems. The first applications of this work will be applied to the programming of automated driving interfaces, where (expert) persons express their intention in the form of queries in natural language and the automated system uses knowledge distilled from previous queries to connect intention and task and generatively provide the programming solution for the task. With this pillar, too, THI is pursuing the goal of making significant transfer contributions in the development and transfer of technology developments to the German automotive, aviation and supplier industry and strengthening international research relations with US scientific networks and tech companies. Pillar 5 ties in with the CodeGPT project, which THI has acquired as part of the state research programme in order to establish a research focus on artificial intelligence in software development.