How AI is leading the way on transport tech

For Rolls-Royce, the world's second largest manufacturer of aero engines and a company with a distinguished history of pioneering R&D, technology strategy is all about the play-off between optimising existing products and simultaneously leading the charge on developing the low carbon power systems of the future. "The most pressing issue is how to get the right balance between new technology-led opportunities and existing product evolution," says the firm's chief technology officer, Paul Stein. "People will still be buying gas turbines [conventional aero engines] for the next 40 or 50 years, so we have to make sure we keep those products competitive for the long term. But we also have to free up as many resources as we can for driving productivity and for investing in the new." Stein explains how technologies such as digitisation and AI are already paying big dividends in design and operational efficiency.