Google Cloud, Oxbotica Team to Scale Self-Driving Software

British autonomous transport company Oxbotica has confirmed it is teaming up with Google Cloud to accelerate the deployment of its software.

Oxbotica says it will take advantage of Google Cloud’s infrastructure to create “scalable, safe and reliable” self-driving solutions for its customers in areas as diverse as last-mile logistics, public transport and heavy industry.

The Oxford-based firm plans to use different Google Cloud products – including compute, storage, networking and analytics tools – to validate its tech, and will also lean on Google Cloud’s cybersecurity expertise to ensure it is used safely.

One area of particular interest is Google Cloud’s ability to generate digital twins in Oxbotica’s MetaDriver.

The MetaDriver is an AI-powered metaverse that connects and controls virtual and physical fleets together, sending real-time analytics on performance. It automatically generates a vast bank of virtual scenarios for AVs, and Google Cloud will provide the data and machine learning tools to enable it to apply Oxbotica’s AI to unusual edge cases that are often impractical to discover in conventional testing. 

By tapping into the scalability of the cloud, Oxbotica will be able to rapidly analyze and process large data sets to learn across different use cases. This will speed up time-to-insights and allow for more testing and experimentation.

Confirmation of the agreement continues a busy start to 2023 for Oxbotica, which has made significant headway with its idea of “Universal Autonomy” – the idea that automated functionality can be applied to any area, integrating with existing software and regardless of hardware. The company has identified several strong potential use cases, such as agriculture, airports, energy, goods delivery, mining and shared passenger transportation.

In January, Oxbotica announced it secured $140 million in series C funding from a diverse array of investors. And earlier this month it confirmed it was teaming with Spain’s Goggo to roll out autonomous deliveries across Europe.

Acknowledging the significance of the latest deal, Gavin Jackson, Oxbotica CEO, said: “We are thrilled to partner with Google Cloud to accelerate bringing autonomous driving solutions to market globally. Google Cloud is a global leader in cloud infrastructure and using its cutting-edge technology and AI-powered tools will strengthen our proposition for our customers.”

“The combination of Oxbotica’s leading technology and our reliable infrastructure and AI and data-enabled cloud platform has the potential to accelerate autonomous mobility in a variety of industrial use cases. We look forward to working together,” added Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian.