Center for Environmental Research & Technology

CE-CERT Secures NVIDIA Academic Grant to Advance Cooperative Autonomous Systems

March 18, 2026

The Center for Environmental Research and Technology (CE-CERT) at the University of California, Riverside has been awarded a highly competitive NVIDIA Academic Grant to support new research in cooperative autonomous systems and edge AI.

The NVIDIA Academic Grant Program is a selective global initiative that provides advanced computing resources to academic researchers developing innovative applications in artificial intelligence, simulation, and data science. Awards are granted to projects that demonstrate strong technical merit, clear use of NVIDIA platforms, and potential for real-world impact.

The CE-CERT-funded project, titled “Sim2Real Ecosystem for Cooperative Autonomy,” is led by Hang Qiu, Assistant Professor of Electrical & Computer Engineering, and focuses on enabling autonomous vehicles to operate collaboratively rather than independently.

While cooperative autonomy has been widely studied, real-world deployment remains limited. Key barriers include computational constraints in large-scale multi-agent simulations, mismatches between simulated and real-world communication environments, and limited access to integrated physical testbeds.

This project addresses these challenges by developing an end-to-end ecosystem that bridges simulation and real-world deployment. The research integrates high-performance computing, edge AI, and vehicle platforms to accelerate the transition from concept to operational systems.

“We’re glad to receive support from the NVIDIA Academic Grant,” said Hang Qiu, lead principal investigator on the project. “These resources will significantly expand our ability to train cooperative agents and bring those models into our autonomous vehicle fleet, helping us move from concept to real-world deployment more quickly.”

Through the award, CE-CERT will receive:

• Four NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell Max-Q GPUs to support large-scale training and simulation of cooperative autonomous agents
• Two NVIDIA DRIVE AGX Thor automotive-grade GPUs for deployment within CE-CERT’s autonomous vehicle fleet
• Access to NVIDIA DRIVE OS and development tools for real-world system integration

These resources provide both computational scale and direct deployment capability, an uncommon combination that enables simultaneous advancement of simulation fidelity and field validation.

The project aligns closely with CE-CERT’s broader research mission in intelligent mobility and sustainable transportation systems. By improving coordination between autonomous vehicles, the research aims to enhance traffic efficiency, reduce emissions, and support safer transportation networks.

CE-CERT’s Transportation Systems Research program has a long history of developing connected and automated vehicle technologies, supported by real-world testbeds and partnerships with public agencies and industry. This new effort builds on that foundation by introducing AI-driven cooperative behaviors at scale.

As autonomous systems continue to evolve, the ability for vehicles to communicate, coordinate, and adapt collectively will be critical to achieving meaningful environmental and societal benefits. The NVIDIA Academic Grant positions CE-CERT to lead in this emerging area, combining advanced computation with applied, real-world validation.