What happens when we combine autonomous computer vision experts with the folks at Montreal’s MILA, the academic research institution dedicated to advancing artificial intelligence (AI)? Well, we’re about to find out and it looks fascinating.

On Wednesday, Montreal’s Algolux, a provider of software for autonomous computer vision announced the new partnership with MILA, headed up by the noteworthy AI professor, Dr. Yoshua Bengio. The agreement will see the two organizations attempt to solve issues within autonomous cars.

“Breakthroughs in AI and computer vision are fundamental to improving the accuracy and safety of the cars we drive, enabling autonomous vehicles and robots, and increasing security”, said Professor Yoshua Bengio, Scientific Director of Mila. “Algolux has been pushing the state-of-the-art in machine learning for computer vision as an exciting startup within the Montreal technology ecosystem and we’re excited by the innovation that will result from this partnership.”

Algolux and Mila will collaborate on deep learning techniques to advance computer vision accuracy and robustness, sensor fusion, and computational imaging. This collaboration will focus on improving the safety of autonomous vehicles and robots, responsible accuracy of video surveillance, and improved experience with consumer computer vision applications.

Professor Bengio was recently named co-recipient of the 2018 ACM A.M. Turing Award, while MILA has made tremendous strides within the global AI community over the past few years, distinguishing itself in the areas of language modelling, machine translation, object recognition and generative models.

Meanwhile, Algolux has been recognized through industry awards for its work on robust computer vision and image quality optimization. The company’s cofounder Felix Heide has co-authored over 50 publications and is the recipient of the Sensors Expo 2018 Rising Star award, ACM SIGGRAPH 2017 Doctoral Dissertation Award, and the Alain Fournier 2016 Award for Best Doctoral Dissertation in Computer Graphics.

“Artificial intelligence has dramatically improved the ability for machines to see and is a fundamental technology for realizing safer cars and autonomous vehicles, more perceptive and responsible surveillance systems, and improving the user experience for smartphones and AR/VR devices,” said Algolux CTO Felix Heide. “We look forward to working with Professor Bengio and the broader Mila research community to develop new deep learning methods that push today’s computer vision capabilities to the next level of performance and application.”