ABU DHABI, UAE – Abu Dhabi’s Technology Innovation Institute (TII) and HeroX, the leading platform for crowdsourced solutions, have launched a crowdsourcing competition called the TII Infrared Tracking Challenge. The challenge is aimed at finding solutions to track objects in low-light conditions in both structured and unstructured environments.
Autonomous vehicles will become an increasingly popular mode of transportation and must be able to navigate challenging lighting conditions. However, current perception-based tracking algorithms often fall short in these scenarios. TII is exploring the use of radiometric sensors to provide infrared frames for object tracking in low-light conditions.
“Autonomous vehicles are the future,” said Dr. Najwa Aaraj, Chief Researcher at TII. “This challenge will help innovators find solutions to ensure that autonomous vehicles operate as safely as possible and launch us into a bold, new phase of our autonomous transportation journey.”
Kal K. Sahota, CEO of HeroX, added, “Tapping the HeroX crowd is a strategic and efficient way to source innovations that will bring us into a thrilling new era for autonomous vehicles.”
The TII Infrared Tracking Challenge is open to innovators, start-ups, research institutes, and university students from around the world. Participants are encouraged to use publicly available datasets and color-to-thermal domain adaptation techniques when necessary. Three winners will be awarded prizes totaling $75,000 by May 17, 2023, with the first-place winner receiving $40,000, second place receiving $20,000, and third place receiving $15,000.
The prize is open to anyone aged 18 or older, participating as an individual or as a team, with some restrictions applying for countries under U.S. federal sanctions.
