Ziran Wang Leads Purdue Research in $7.3 Million Automated Driving Project
Ziran Wang, Assistant Professor in the Lyles School of Civil and Construction Engineering and Assistant Director of the Institute for Control, Optimization and Networks (ICON) at Purdue University, will lead Purdue’s participation in an international project to develop human-centered AI and next-generation automotive computing systems for automated vehicles.
The five-year project is titled “Modular Chiplet Structure-Based Human-Centered AI Foundation Models for Robust, Scalable Automated Driving,” developed through Purdue’s Center of Operation and Research for Industry Advancement, directed by Martin Byung-Guk Jun, Professor of Mechanical Engineering. The project is supported by approximately $7.3 million in Korean government funding from the Korea Institute for Advancement of Technology, with Purdue’s planned share totaling approximately $2.9 million.
“This project brings together human-centered AI, predictive world models and next-generation automotive computing,” Wang said. “By co-designing advanced AI models with a scalable chiplet-based computing platform, we aim to enable safer, more intelligent and more efficient automated vehicles.”
Wang led the development of Purdue’s proposal and will direct the university’s research in system architecture, world foundation models, and real-vehicle validations. The Purdue team also includes Young-Jun Son, James J. Solberg Head and Ransburg Professor of Industrial Engineering, who will contribute to system modeling and digital twin simulation, and Ruqi Zhang, Assistant Professor of Computer Science, who will provide expertise in probabilistic machine learning and trustworthy generative AI.
BOS Semiconductors serves as the consortium’s lead institution in South Korea. Other formal project partners include Deep-In-Sight, the Korea Automotive Technology Institute, and the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST). The research will also build on the team’s broader collaborations with Hyundai Motor Company, NVIDIA, and Autoware.