Dr Xingyu Zhao from WMG at the University of Warwick’s Safe Autonomy research group, has been awarded the EPSRC’s prestigious New Investigator Award (NIA).
Dr Xingyu Zhao
The purpose of the NIA scheme is to address a gap identified in the funding landscape and support researchers to develop their own research vision.
The project focused on scenario-based virtual testing for Autonomous Vehicle (AV) safety, developing a rigorous framework to define and quantify synthetic data fidelity, and explore how this impacts public confidence. By advancing synthetic data and AV safety research, Dr Zhao’s research supports industry innovation, shapes safety standards, and ultimately enables the safe deployment of autonomous vehicles.
Dr Zhao explained:
“It is a tremendous honour to receive the EPSRC New Investigator Award. This recognises years of dedication and passion for Safe AV research. I am really excited for the opportunities ahead, and to make a meaningful impact globally by building the public’s trust in an AI-powered world.”
