There’s no question about it: the future is autonomous. But while the future of autonomy is bright, it’s a difficult field to be involved in. The industry ecosystem is notoriously complex and depends on the right talent and know-how. Plus, the rapid pace of development has left legislative, ethical and policy direction in its wake. All the while, getting it wrong is daunting for any company.

Helping our users stay ahead of the curve with this shift towards autonomy is the thinking behind Thales’s decision to launch its Autonomy Technology Centre. The Centre comprises a team of specialists who act as a central point of support, enabling us to bring together our learning and experience across autonomy to help whoever we work with bring their own capabilities to market.

The Centre also underpins some of the work Thales has already been doing in the field, and its establishment reiterates our view that, as a country, the UK can position itself to become an autonomy Superpower.

Chris Shepherd, Director of the Autonomy Technology Centre, tells us a little more…

How the idea of an Autonomy Technology Centre came about

Autonomy’s potential to take people out of harm’s way, reduce human effort on dull and dirty jobs, and to act as a force multiplier is clearly an attractive proposition to companies across almost every industry. Here at Thales, we’re already exploiting autonomy across each of our domains. So we wanted to bring together our efforts and experience in the field, which is where the idea of an Autonomy Technology Centre was born. Crucially, the Centre chimes with our desire to help UK industry lead and set standards for trusted, safe and ethical autonomous systems in the Digital Age. We want to help deliver market-leading autonomous solutions that are trusted by users and endorsed by Governments. In this sense, we envisage our Autonomy Technology Centre becoming not only a platform trusted by our users, but also a hub from where we can advise Government departments on legislation.

We were early to recognise the importance of digital transformation to the Aerospace sector. Here, Thales UK has been a long-standing advocate for the development and exploitation of civil drones to deliver major societal and economic benefits.

^{Chris Shepherd, Director of the Autonomy Technology Centre}

A repository that brings together Thales’s experience

Today, autonomy touches everything we do. And the aim of the Centre is to receive and share knowledge from across all parts of the Thales business, bringing together experience from across diverse sectors such as land, maritime, air and space.
For example, we have been helping clients in the military and civil maritime field deliver operational effectiveness and efficiency that resonates with the Department for Transport’s Maritime 2050 goal: that the UK will be a world-leader in the design, manufacture, uptake, and use of maritime autonomy and other innovative ship-board technologies.

In the same field, carbon-zero strategies are also driving the rapid roll-out of floating wind and alternative propulsion for shipping, as highlighted in the Government’s Clean Maritime Plan. In particular, we have worked with both the Royal Navy and the French Navy to help them become early adopters of autonomous systems – a complex undertaking given long procurement times for ships, submarines and aircraft, the high security requirements and the consequences of poor resilience and untrustworthy data sources.

We were early to recognise the importance of digital transformation to the Aerospace sector. Here, Thales UK has been a long-standing advocate for the development and exploitation of civil drones to deliver major societal and economic benefits. In terms of air autonomy, our UK CEO met the Prime Minister at No.10 Downing Street, to voice support for the Amy Johnson Challenge. This led to the Future Flight Challenge, a strategic initiative to position UK industry in this emerging market, to accelerate development of a holistic system of systems approach, and to bring critical mass to UK industry’s efforts.

It is exactly this breadth and depth of experience across our business that we want to capitalise on through the Autonomy Technology Centre. Whether we’re working with innovative SMEs, directly with customers or providing support internally to Thales, we want to help people deliver their own capabilities more efficiently while at the same time driving the profile of the UK’s expertise in the field.