It was a pleasure to be involved in a fascinating panel discussion last week on the use of AI in the automotive sector last week at the annual Business & Law Update for the Automotive Sector organised by The Motor Ombudsman and Radius Law. I was joined on the panel by Lucy McCormick (barrister at Henderson Chambers) and Peter Bury (cyber security expert at Palo Alto Networks), with the session being expertly hosted by Maria Johnston of Radius Law.

The discussion started out with clarifying what we mean by AI software (hint: it’s more than just chat-bots) and some of the many and varied ways it is being, and will be, used within vehicles and in the wider eco-system, including in the design process and in data analysis. With these preliminaries out of the way, we moved on to discuss some of the technical challenges and opportunities, as we see them. These included the opportunities that arise, both for incumbent manufacturers and disrupters, through the shorter lifecycles and over-the-air upgrades that are enabled by software-defined vehicles. We considered the important role of regulation in maintaining safety, while recognising the challenges in implementing this in a way that doesn’t make certain countries less attractive to innovators.

I then explained a bit about the potential for the IP system to help innovative companies secure a competitive advantage and reward for their R&D effort in in a fast-moving marketplace. In the second half, there was some especially lively interaction between the panellists as we considered challenging questions relating to ethics, such as what level of accidents should be acceptable to the public, and where liability lies when things go wrong.

Overall, the panel discussion was well-received by the audience, with an engaging Q&A session, and contributed to a fascinating programme of talks throughout the day. Make sure you book for next year!