Mazda Selects AI-Start-up Secondmind to Help Design and Develop its Powertrains

Mazda Motor Corporation has selected UK start-up Secondmind to help it to increase engine calibration efficiency, and to help it manage the increasing complexity of powertrain design and development. The two companies are also extending a two-year research and development collaboration to focus on advanced hybrid and electric powertrain control systems, and strategic CASE applications. 

Mazda expects 50% reduction in engine calibration time with intelligent automated experimentation powered by Secondmind Active Learning platform.

It is initially using Secondmind to calibrate ECUs that control the company’s next-generation SKYACTIV engine technology

Secondmind’s technology offers machine learning models based on noisy, high-dimensional data, and enables rapid, automated, and intelligent experimentation.

The Japanese car manufacturer has utilised model-based design (MBD) innovation for decades

Gary Brotman, CEO of Secondmind, says: “Mazda is a leader in model-based design and a pioneer in the adoption and successful implementation of advanced machine learning. We’re excited that Mazda has chosen us as a partner to help take their innovations in powertrain design and development to the next level.”

Eiji Nakai, Executive Officer in charge of Powertrain Development and Integrated Control System Development from Mazda, adds: “Secondmind unique active learning technology will enable us to automate the engine calibration process, and we expect to more than double efficiency in this area. In the future, we expect to extend the same innovation to more areas, such as controls of advanced CASE technologies. We will utilise Secondmind machine learning technologies to help us evolve MBD and develop more efficiently. We are convinced that Secondmind technology will effectively solve the most complex optimisation problems faced by many companies.”

Secondmind was founded in 2016 and is backed by leading venture funds including Amadeus Capital, Atlantic Bridge, and Cambridge Innovation Capital, among others.

To read our full interview with Gary Brotman, click on the link.