FHL Vive Center for Enhanced Reality at the University of California, Berkeley, an engineering academic center devoted to research on Artificial Intelligence (AI), Virtual Reality (VR), and Augmented Reality (AR), announces its newest industry partnership with BeamNG, a leading simulation engine software company based in Bremen, Germany.

Among FHL Vive Center’s projects, the Robot Open Autonomous Racing (ROAR) program has the most synergies with BeamNG. ROAR oversees the multi-university AI Racing Tech team, currently the top-ranked U.S. team in the international Indy Autonomous Challenge, sending faculty and students around the globe to compete with driverless racecars on legendary courses from Indianapolis to Monza.

Such feats require advanced simulation environments testing autonomous software stacks in a real-world setting. This “Sim-to-Real” technology carries implications not only for the future of transportation, but also for other high-stakes fields demanding critical assurance, such as aerospace, defense, and healthcare.

AI Racing Tech is a leading developer of simulation environments, already supporting integration with BeamNG products. This new partnership will formalize a mutually beneficial relationship incorporating educational and research opportunities, software licensing, technical support, and the like.

“We welcome this opportunity to collaborate with a company that shares our passion for autonomous racing and the advanced technologies and challenging science behind it,” says Shankar Sastry, ROAR faculty director and Thomas M. Siebel Professor in Computer Science at UC Berkeley, “particularly the exceptional vehicle physics and sensor physics technology for which BeamNG is well-known.”

“This partnership is set to bring together BeamNG’s expertise in simulation technology with Berkeley’s impressive record in academia and research,” says Thomas Fischer, CEO of BeamNG. “Through mutual growth and innovation, we aim to push the boundaries in vehicle dynamics, safety, AI, and simulation capabilities to contribute to more realistic and efficient simulation technologies and pave the way for breakthroughs in research and industry.”

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About FHL Vive Center

FHL Vive Center for Enhanced Reality at the University of California, Berkeley, sponsors cross-disciplinary research and develops applications in the emergent fields of Artificial Intelligence (AI), Virtual Reality (VR), and Augmented Reality (AR). Its programs include Robot Open Autonomous Racing (ROAR), home of AI Racing Tech, currently the top-ranked U.S. team in the international Indy Autonomous Challenge.

About BeamNG

BeamNG is a global technology company dedicated to the development of a dynamic simulation platform. Its proprietary soft body physics engine is built in-house and enables highly realistic, real-time simulations. Since 2013, BeamNG’s software has been successfully integrated into commercial and academic research and design projects, contributing to a variety of applications from autonomous driving systems to driver training programs.

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