Articles – Magazine of the Fraunhofer Institute for Cognitive Systems IKS

Interview with Reinhard Stolle
“Bringing the best technology safely into the vehicle”

Ensuring the safety of AI functions in vehicles remains a challenge that must be mastered step by step. However, visible progress is being made on the road to autonomous driving, says Dr. Reinhard Stolle, deputy director of the Fraunhofer IKS. And the success of ChatGPT & Co. is also likely to be leveraged for highly automated vehicles.

Autonomous driving

September 12, 2025

Rail
Safe.trAIn: AI as train conductor on regional railways

Autonomous driving is not only set to conquer the roads, but also offers enormous potential for driverless trains in rail transport. Proof of this is the safe.trAIn project, in which Fraunhofer IKS has taken on the central task of methodically assuring the AI functions.

Artificial intelligence

September 4, 2025

Machine Learning
Metrics as an indicator of AI safety: is that enough?

The performance of machine learning (ML) models is typically assessed using metrics such as accuracy, precision, recall, F1 score, etc. But how trustworthy are these single point estimates really? Such metrics reflect reality only partially and can provide us with a false sense of safety. Especially in safety-critical areas, this can be dangerous. Fraunhofer IKS develops a formal framework for the quantification of uncertainty which aims to make the residual risk “more computable”.

Safety engineering

Papers

August 28, 2025

Artificial Intelligence
Can Generative AI Revolutionize Modern Healthcare?

Artificial intelligence, especially large language models (LLMs), are seen by many as a key resource for an overburdened healthcare system. AI-supported automation in particular could quickly relieve the burden of knowledge management tasks. Before this can happen, security and safety challenges as well as legal requirements must be taken into account. Fraunhofer IKS research is dedicated to both of these aspects.

AI in medicine

August 21, 2025

Artificial Intelligence
Railway AI Systems: The Importance of Operational Design Domain (ODD)

How can rail transportation become more attractive and efficient? AI systems that are integrated into rail operations should provide an answer to this question. However, this is associated with a number of challenges. Safety is at the top of the list, but passenger numbers should also increase.

Artificial intelligence

August 14, 2025

Industry 4.0
Toolbox offers more flexibility in production

The ability of a production system to adapt autonomously to changing conditions promises efficiency gains and cost benefits. This also applies to subsequent change orders in the production process - a field of application for the new tool set from Fraunhofer IKS, which enables flexible and resilient production.

Industry 4.0

August 7, 2025

Autonomous driving
Where driverless cars still have some catching up to do

Autonomous driving is showing promising results in defined areas. However, serious challenges can arise when driverless cars are exposed to the unpredictability of everyday road traffic. Three examples illustrate these problems.

Autonomous driving

August 1, 2025

Safetronic 2025
Focus on holistic safety for road vehicles

In the run-up to the 2026 anniversary, this year's Safetronic will once again present itself with strong topics and exciting presentations. And that's not all: the international symposium for the holistic safety of road vehicles is the annual industry get-together for safety experts from the automotive and supplier industry and related sectors.

Autonomous driving

July 24, 2025

Production
Autonomous Systems on a Leash

A precisely defined operating environment is not only important for autonomous driving. The Operational Design Domain (ODD) also ensures safety for many other highly automated systems in rail transport, logistics and mobile robotics.

Safety engineering

July 17, 2025

Artificial Intelligence
An alliance that benefits customers

Fraunhofer IKS has joined the Fraunhofer Big Data and Artificial Intelligence Alliance. According to the Institute Director Mario Trapp, exchange and collaboration within the alliance make it possible to pool expertise and create synergies - to the benefit of customers.

Artificial intelligence

July 9, 2025

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