New joint exhibit at the National Railway Museum looks to the future of public transport

News | Posted on Monday 13 June 2022

The exhibit, developed by the Assuring Autonomy International Programme (AAIP) and the National Railway Museum, will explore how autonomous technologies could help shape the future of the railways.

An artist's impression of the exhibit at the National Railway Museum
An artist's impression of the exhibit (photo credit: National Railway Museum)

Opening on Wednesday 15 June, it is the first exhibit in the museum’s new Innovation Platform that will showcase the future of railway technology. The AAIP display includes a mock-up cab showing footage filmed to imitate a driverless environment. Museum visitors are able to add different overlays to the footage to show how algorithms are used in autonomous driving technology to spot objects and obstacles and help to categorise and identify them to inform how the vehicle reacts.

AAIP’s Director, Professor John McDermid, said: "As artificial intelligence and autonomous systems become increasingly mainstream, it's important that everyone, not just the engineers and the developers, are aware of how we assure the safety of these incoming systems.  

“This exhibit with the National Railway Museum is a fantastic way to help the public understand how machine learning - an essential part of how an autonomous vehicle understands the world around it - works, and how the research we are doing can help them to trust that the system will work safely and as expected."

The exhibit kicks off the museum’s Autonomous Technology season in its new Innovation Platform, and the museum is working with partners to showcase how novel technologies will impact the railway industry.

Liv Mills, Exhibitions Project Manager at the National Railway Museum, said: “Innovation Platform offers a great opportunity for museum visitors of all ages to come and explore the technologies that will shape the future of the railways that they will travel on. We’re really excited to be able to work with lots of different companies, organisations and partners to showcase this exhibition.”

As part of the York Festival of Ideas, on Saturday 18 June visitors have the opportunity to take a tour of the exhibit with staff from the museum and the AAIP staff to discover more about the technology on display.

To find out more about the Innovation Platform and to book a free guided tour place, go to www.railwaymuseum.org.uk/whats-on/innovation-platform.