AI Initiative Rhineland-Palatinate: AI Pilot for Mobility

Are you thinking about how you can use AI for your company or your research? What is artificial intelligence? In which processes can AI be helpful? – To help with the answers to these questions, the Ministry of Science, Further Education and Culture relies on so called AI Pilots. Our institute director Prof. Dr. Anita Schöbel was appointed as AI Pilot (in German KI-Pilotin) for mobility in 2020 by the Minister of Science Prof. Dr. Konrad Wolf.
 

What Is an AI Pilot?

With the »AI Agenda« presented by the Ministry of Science, Rhineland-Palatinate aims to double the funding, research and networking of the key artificial intelligence (AI) technologies in the next few years. One component of the agenda is the appointment of contact persons who support the application of AI technologies in science and industry. These new AI Pilots are the links that bring science and business together to leverage the potential of AI for businesses. The first AI Pilot in Rhineland-Palatinate is Anita Schöbel. She is an internationally recognized expert in the field of artificial intelligence and mobility. Together with our institute, the Fraunhofer ITWM, stands for a large number of innovative AI projects.

Function and Activities of the AI Pilot

»As an AI pilot, I am primarily active in an advisory capacity; above all, I am available to the public as a contact person for experts and users. Together with my colleague Dr. Henrike Stephani, we work on presenting projects and methods that use AI successfully in the field of mobility. We want to bring artificial intelligence and mobility together to enable the use of AI where added value can be expected,« says Prof. Dr. Anita Schöbel.

Presentations are planned to provide information on the topic of Artificial Intelligence in Mobility in direct contact – either online or at face-to-face meetings. We provide all related information here. The AI Pilot scientific consultant, Dr. Henrike Stephani, can also be reached by email and by phone (flexibly and at fixed office hours) for questions about AI.

Due to the Corona pandemic, also in the environment of AI, many events had to be postponed or cancelled. Many event organizers have reacted quickly and allowed conferences to take place digitally, thus preserving the opportunity for knowledge transfer and exchange. Our regular seminars are also currently purely digital. This year, the pandemic will continue to have a decisive impact on the planning and implementation of events. As soon as events on the topic Artificial Intelligence and Mobility can be held live on site again, we will also provide information here on the website.

What Is Artificial Intelligence?

Artificial intelligence can have various meanings. We want to emphasize on the area of AI that is currently the focus of research: so-called »weak« AI.

The goal here is not to replace human intelligence, but to complement it with the special capabilities of computers and learning algorithms. Computing power and memory capabilities mean that computers can learn primarily from a very large number of examples. Solutions become particularly powerful when so-called »data-driven« approaches are combined with human expertise and modeling.