VŠB–TUO reinforces its strong position in AI as part of the National Center for Artificial Intelligence

VŠB – Technical University of Ostrava continues to strengthen its position in artificial intelligence research, with a clear focus on rapidly translating results into practical applications. This is evidenced by its involvement in the newly established National Center for Artificial Intelligence (NCAI). Within the project, VŠB–TUO will contribute its expertise in areas such as high-performance computing (HPC) and the development of advanced methods for automated truck control.

“Our participation in the National Center for Artificial Intelligence is not merely an academic aspiration; it represents a concrete step toward swiftly transforming cutting-edge research into real-world applications and leveraging research and development outcomes that benefit both industry and society as a whole. We are bringing together top-tier infrastructure, expertise, and strong industrial partnerships. It is precisely this combination that gives the Czech Republic the opportunity to position itself among Europe’s leaders in artificial intelligence,” said VŠB–TUO Rector Igor Ivan.

The National Center for Artificial Intelligence, coordinated by the Czech Institute of Informatics, Robotics, and Cybernetics at Czech Technical University in Prague, brings together 36 partners from academia, industry, and the public sector with the aim of converting advanced research into tangible applications. VŠB–TUO contributes to the consortium with a solid foundation in applied research and robust technological infrastructure. Its teams focus, for example, on large-scale processing of text, image, and multimedia data, as well as on leveraging HPC and cloud environments to train models on extensive multimodal sensor data for the automotive sector.

“In this project, we will build on our long-standing experience in developing technologies for driver assistance systems and automated vehicle control, as well as on our extensive collaboration with key players in the automotive industry, including Valeo, Škoda Auto, and Tatra Trucks. Our work will focus on the development of new multisensor systems and advanced methods for automated truck control in specific driving scenarios, such as operation in unmapped terrain,” explained Petr Šimoník, head of one of the research programs at FEECS, outlining the next steps in the research.