The heart of that Emilia that is the global excellence of the automotive sector is home to a company specialising in full-stack self-driving solutions From university to company, Hipert currently boasts 80 on-the job engineers and a €3 million turnover It applies AI algorithms to cars and devices so that they can read, interact and move within the environment that surrounds them. For FARE Insieme, Giampaolo Colletti interviewed Marko Bertogna, founder of Hipert
by Giampaolo Colletti
@gpcolletti
There are companies that already live in the future, sometimes without even realising it. They are on the border, ready to show us the way, as they have already travelled some parts of an unexplored path with a mix of courage, awareness and clear vision. Looking towards the future - literally. Because these companies do not settle for “that’s the way it’s always been” - a well-known concept that expresses what is the safest path to take - the one everyone has gone down before. They actually argue the opposite and say “why not?!”.
Company profile. There you have it, the story we are about to tell you travels fast along the tomorrow’s paths, starting from the strength of a district that has proved far-sighted over the years. Hectic and desperate studying and therefore endless research, team work that has also involved different teams - and therefore the ability to work as a system, a word that is not that trending at the moment - and a concrete vision. After all, this has always been the winning recipe for the automotive ecosystem that reaches out to all parts of the world starting from Emilia. The company decided to take root precisely here, and to rethink the market by combining human and technological capital as well as by working with large companies as well. Hipert is the spin-off of the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia specialising in the supply of new-generation self-driving systems for industrial vehicles, cars and drones. It was set up by Marko Bertogna, an IT professor and researcher of embedded systems linked to AI, i.e. those models where AI is inserted into moving vehicles. Hipert is the spin-off of Hipert Lab, i.e. the High-Performance-Real-Time Laboratory founded in 2012 by the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia. The company is now 5 years old with 80 on-the-job engineers and a €3 million turnover. We could say that Bertogna is a start-upper professor. There are many like him in Italy but, if there were more, everything would go just a little bit better along those crumpled maps that show us the way to the future. “The academic and entrepreneurial worlds are very different, but we try to shorten the distance with applied education,” explains Bertogna. And so we return to the concept of a road that must be travelled, shortened, trodden together. “We firmly believe that AI represents an opportunity for humankind. We imagine a future where every moving thing will be autonomous. We apply AI algorithms to cars and devices so that they can read, interact and move within the environment that surrounds them. Autonomously.” It is this company’s belief, which attracts both young talents and seasoned professionals.
Distinctive traits. Hipert specialises in full-stack self-driving solutions at the service of sectors that range from automotive to smart-city technologies. The skill in software development and hardware integration guarantees that autonomous vehicles perceive the surrounding environment, plan actions and execute commands with safety and precision. Here is the brilliant intuition: technology is not an end in itself, it is part of a real, physical and tangible eco-system. The environment definitely counts. Today too. And maybe - as is often mentioned during this podcast - even ore so. By tackling the challenges of computational predictability, it is possible to improve the performance of system parallel processing platforms in real-time. Robotic systems therefore work in a safe and efficient manner in dynamic environments. “Our expertise includes self-driving systems, AI, parallel computing, real-time systems, robotics engineering, mapping and localisation, in addition to safety protocols. We tackle complex challenges and innovate constantly. We now create chips that are as big as one square cm that are better performing and smaller compared to their predecessors. We dedicate ourselves to applied AI by inserting it in vehicles, robotic arms, drones,” stresses Bertogna. The name of the company means hi-performance real-time and refers to real-time high-performing computing systems. The strength lies in the ability to create cohesive systems that move in complex environments with precision and reliability, with safety at the base. A company that has been far sighted and has managed to achieve earlier than others, even when choosing partners. “We started working with Nvidia 15 years ago, as we had recognised the greatness of the company,” concludes Bertogna. There it is - the skill of pioneers, the explorers of the future. They sniff out the future by starting from the most precious thing, i.e. listening.
https://podcast.confindustriaemilia.it/
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