Quantum Computing Inc used their new Entropy Quantum Computing (EQC) quantum based hardware solution to solve BMW’s 2022 Vehicle Sensor Placement Challenge (VSPC) in just 6 minutes. It marks a new high water mark in the ability of quantum computers to solve real-world problems.

The 2021 BMW Group and Amazon Web Services (AWS) Quantum Computing Challenge included a Vehicle Sensor Placement use case that challenged participants to find optimal configurations of sensors for a given vehicle that would provide maximum coverage (i.e. detect obstacles in different driving scenarios) at minimum cost.

The problem consisted of 3,854 variables and over 500 constraints. Placing sensors in vehicles – and especially autonomous vehicles – is an incredible challenge. A multitude of variables have to be taken into account – variables such as chassis design (which has implications on vehicle security), absence of obstruction (different placements offer different fields of view or allow for lower error possibility), wind resistance and weight balancing to name a few.

Although QCI placed as a 2021 finalist, its 2022 acquisition of quantum photonics systems company QPhoton provided a powerful suite of new quantum hardware technologies, including EQC. As a result, QCI today presented BMW with a 2022 solution: a superior sensor configuration consisting of 15 sensors yielding 96% coverage using QCI’s quantum hardware and software system.

Links:

• https://www.tomshardware.com/news/quantum-computing-company-solves-3854-variable-problem-for-bmw-in-six-minutes
• https://www.quantumcomputinginc.com/press-releases/qci-bmw/