HKUST, CalmCar launch physical AI innovation centre

The centre will focus on physical AI technologies for autonomous driving, robotics, and smart manufacturing.

The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and CalmCar have signed a strategic agreement to establish the Physical AI Innovation Center in Hong Kong.

The centre will focus on full-stack physical AI technologies, addressing current AI limitations such as weak understanding of physical-world laws, limited reasoning capabilities, and unreliable support for action and decision-making.

It aims to support industries including autonomous driving, robotics, and smart manufacturing, whilst positioning Hong Kong as a strategic hub for national physical AI innovation.

Research at the centre will cover chips and systems, foundational models and data, privacy protection, safety governance, and core application scenarios.

The centre will also use world models to train AI in virtual environments before transferring capabilities to real-world settings. HKUST and CalmCar said this could improve AI’s generalisability, interpretability, and reliability in complex environments.

Prof. Guo Song, chair professor at HKUST’s Department of Computer Science and Engineering, will serve as the centre’s director.

CalmCar, as co-founder, will lead the application of physical AI technologies in autonomous driving. The company aims to help vehicles move beyond perception by enabling them to understand physical causality and anticipate traffic scenarios.

The launch also included the creation of an Industry-Research Alliance and a Capital Alliance to support technology development, deployment, funding, and commercialisation.

Inaugural industry partners include Tsinghua University, Microsoft Research Asia, 51WORLD, MetaX Integrated Circuits, Arm China, and Huixi Technology. Participating investment institutions include HSBC, Lion X Ventures, Dragonstone Capital, GPTX Investment, Delian Capital, G70 MFO, WeMove Capital, and Great Filter Venture.

The centre will also support talent development, with CalmCar providing real-world engineering scenarios and hands-on opportunities.