Public Affairs

RISE Center at AUK Kicks Off 2018-2019 Lecture Series with a Talk on Autonomous Vehicles

20th Nov 2018 | by the Department of PR & Marketing

The Center for Research in Informatics, Sciences, and Engineering (RISE) at the American University of Kuwait (AUK) hosted a public lecture presented by Dr. Hussein T. Mouftah, Tier 1 Canada Research Chair and Distinguished University Professor at the University of Ottawa, Canada. Dr. Mouftah’s lecture, entitled, Technology Trends for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles in Smart Cities, gave the audience a glimpse into the future of driverless vehicles.

The lecture began with an introduction by Dr. Mounib Khanafer, Assistant Professor of Computer and Electrical Engineering at AUK, who actually had Dr. Mouftah as his advisor for his master’s and PhD studies. Reflecting on his experience with Dr. Mouftah, Dr. Mounib told the audience, “From the first moment I noticed that Professor Mouftah is open for ideas, open for discussion, and he never imposed any plans on me or any ideas. He just let me have a very good experience with my graduate studies.”

During his lecture, Dr. Mouftah explained where we are in the development of autonomous vehicles and what still needs to be accomplished. He began by discussing the different stages of autonomy that a vehicle can reach. We have already reached the stage in which cars can park themselves and give lane assist warnings, but we have yet to reach full autonomy. Dr. Mouftah believes that this change is coming in the near future as a number of companies are already in the testing phases of their autonomous vehicles.

Even if someone can quickly fix all of the software bugs in autonomous vehicles, cities will need a strong and reliable infrastructure for charging them. Dr. Mouftah believes that all autonomous vehicles will be electric. As a result, he emphasized the importance of developing smart cities that will be able to produce enough electricity in a sustainable way. Instead of just relying on power plants—as most places do today—smart cities will diversify their power sources into solar, wind, and hydropower in order to generate enough electricity to keep things running without any chance of a blackout.

Dr. Mouftah also discussed one potential drawback to the development of smart vehicles. Since they will need to communicate with each other wirelessly, there may be many privacy and security concerns. However, Dr. Mouftah does not see this as a reason to stop the development, but rather as an issue that the younger generation can work on overcoming.

This event was the first official RISE speaker event of the 2018-2019 academic year. The RISE speaker series brings in a variety of experts from around the world to educate and inspire students and the public about topics related to informatics, sciences, and engineering. Reflecting on Dr. Mouftah’s talk, Dr. Amir Zeid, Director of RISE, said, “As a platform for community engagement, we welcome local and international experts from a wide variety of disciplines not only to share their expertise with us, but to inspire and empower our students and local community. We are privileged to kick off the RISE lecture series with Dr. Mouftah’s talk about autonomous smart vehicles and smart cities. Professor Mouftah also served as a judge for the NASA Space Apps challenge in Kuwait that was organized by RISE earlier this month. We are looking forward to long-term research collaborations with Professor Mouftah.”

About Dr. Hussein T. Mouftah
Dr. Mouftah has published over 1000 technical papers, 7 books and 48 book chapters.  To his credit he has 12 patents and 140 industrial reports.  He has received research grants and contracts totaling close to $40 million and he has supervised more than 300 highly qualified personnel of which 95 are master’s, 63 are PhD graduates, and 30 are post-doctoral fellows. Dr. Mouftah is a Fellow of the IEEE (1990), Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering (2003), Fellow of the Engineering Institute of Canada (2005), and Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada RSC Academy of Sciences (2008).

About RISE
The AUK Center for Research in Informatics, Sciences, and Engineering (RISE) serves as AUK's primary source for multidisciplinary research and development (R&D) activities. The Center employs a holistic approach to R&D by integrating academic disciplines, and forging connections between local & international innovators, academia & industry, and technology & society.
 

AUK Assistant Professor of Computer and Electrical Engineering, Dr. Mounib Khanafer introducing (his former academic advisor) Dr. Hussein T. Mouftah
 

Members of the audience at the lecture
 

Dr. Hussein T. Mouftah, Tier 1 Canada Research Chair and Distinguished University Professor at the University of Ottowa, Canada
 

Director of RISE Center at AUK, Dr. Amir Zeid and Dr. Hussein Mouftah
 

Group photo of the speaker with the lecture attendees
 

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