Self-driving vehicles
 

Self-driving cars to be tested on Ontario roads
'Benefits of being part of automated vehicle innovation are clear,' transportation minister says

CBC News Posted: Oct 13, 2015 9:19 AM ET Last Updated: Oct 13, 2015 12:20 PM ET

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Ontario will be the first province in Canada to allow road tests of automated vehicles, according to Ontario Transportation Minister Steven Del Duca.

"For Ontario, the benefits of being part of automated vehicle innovation are clear," said Del Duca in a speech at the University of Waterloo on Tuesday morning. "In order to compete, Ontario needs to be consistent with the approach of U.S. jursidictions."

The province will allow testing of self-driving cars, as well as related technologies, starting on Jan. 1 of the new year. The provincial government is also pledging an additional $500,000 to the Ontario Centres of Excellence Connected Vehicle/Automated Vehicle Program. That program pairs academic institutions with businesses to further transportation technology.

Del Duca was joined at the university by Brad Duguid, the province's minister of economic development, and local MPPs Daiene Vernile (Kitchener Centre) and Kathryn McGarry (Cambridge), as well as Feridun Hamdullahpur, the university's president.

"We intend to be leaders in this disruptive technology," Duguid said.

In the U.S., Nevada, California and Michigan currently have laws that allow for autonomous car testing on roads, while Virginia has designated just over 110 kilometres worth of roads in the northern part of the state for testing.

Rules vary from state to state. In California, for example, manufacturers must apply for a permit to test autonomous cars, and those cars must have a human test driver. Ten companies, including Google, Tesla Motors, BMW and Nissan, have been approved for road testing in the state.

It's likely the province picked the University of Waterloo as the site of the announcement because the school is home to WAVELab, the Waterloo Autonomous Vehicles Laboratory, headed by Prof. Steven Waslander.

WAVELab works on both aerial and ground autonomous vehicles, and has partnered with local robotics companies, including Aeryon Labs and Clearpath Robotics.

In addition to WAVE, two Waterloo students started a company, Varden Labs, that focuses on self-driving vehicles.

Michael Skupien and Alex Rodrigues say they achieved a Canadian first in August when their autonomous golf cart successfully drove itself for 10 minutes along Ring Road, the road that circles the boundary of the University of Waterloo campus.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/kitche...cars-1.3268181

This is GREAT news, and a GREAT future ahead

I think I read recently that Stratford, with UofW just down the road, was implementing plans to facilitate the testing of self-driving cars there.

Sorry - from my urban planning perspective, I just keep thinking about this:

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:haha:

Couldn't be more correct. The only real difference is the level of apathy towards situational awareness. It is pretty low right now, but with driverless cars it will be non existent.

Here is a different take, and benefits to the consumer and taxpayer will be massive:

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/drivi...inton-desveaux

If driverless cars get adopted in large numbers the capacity of roads could go way up. Cars could be spaced more tightly together, mergers and exits could be done more efficiently, and there would be fewer lane changes and brake/gas idiots. Plus there would be fewer accidents.

That's debatable. Actually I think there will be more. I mean why not cut in front of a self-driving vehicle if you know it will always politely let you in.
People were already exploiting that feature while Google cars were still on trials in California.

I agree; that's why I said "adopted in large numbers."

Imagine half-hour lineup of cars on SJAM waiting for right turn to Champlain bridge, you quietly drive past it looking for that sucker on self-driving Tesla and cut in front of him. Then watch in rearview mirror 50 more cars do the same. Oh the rage. :hell: :haha:

Why would the google car be more likely to leave space to cut in?

Reminds me of a joke I once heard:

A Canadian and a Californian were talking:
Californian: Don't Canadian drivers ever get angry?
Canadian: I get angry when I let someone in and don't get a wave?
Californian: What?
Canadian: You know, a little wave to say thank you.
Californian: I meant, you let someone in???

Do you really think self driving cars will be adopted in large numbers? It will be a chicken and egg thing. With the above limitation, most people won't want the feature, and if most people don't have the feature, it will never be adopted in large numbers, making the limitation very real.

It would have to either be a legislated requirement (likely political suicide) or the industry as a whole agreeing to make it a standard feature (likely economic suicide).

Tesla driver killed in Autopilot crash had praised safety of system

It will happen. And much sooner than you think.

You really didn't need a touchtone telephone because a rotary worked just fine.

You didn't need a redial button because if you didn't know the number you last dialled then you must not be very bright.

There's absolutely no need for cordless telephones. Add a longer wire if you want to move to another room.

Yada, yada, yada...

Since 2014 you could buy a Cadillac in Canada that would stop the car and steer itself to keep within a lane on the highway. It will also adjust its speed to match that of the car in front. Ford has had self parking since about then as well. These are semi-autonomous features.

Full autonomy will be here in 10 years. Why on earth would you want to have full control over the car in queensway stop and go traffic?

Now driving through Gatineau park or similar is something that you'd likely want to do yourself. But those situations are the exception rather than the mundanity of most driving. And all autonomous driving will allow you to grab the wheel and take over.

Sure you can still buy a car with a manual transmission today if you're into that kind of thing. But often you have to pay more for it. And I can't think of a new car for sale today without power brakes, steering, Windows or locks.

So in 10 years full autonomy will come on the premium brands and models. But in another 10 after that it will be on virtually everything.

I'm a bit curious about what the effect of driverless cars will be on urbanization. With the convenience of being able to be essentially ubered to any destination at any time, will there be a disincentive to live in urban cores? Will we see an explosion in the exurbs?

But touchtone and redail buttons make dialing faster but who wants to wait in a line of self driving cars until all all those driving themselves pass you since the car will always make room for them to avoid the collision.

Then there is the aspect of trust. Many people won't trust the car to always make the correct decision.

Not of it's a BMW ;-)

I look forward to not having stop and go traffic on the Queensway, when all cars are autonomous. Also no traffic lights, and no stop signs. Also no back-ups at left hand turn lanes, no waiting for lights (because all cars will accelerate at the same time!)

So... who stops for people walking? Or how do you take a corner without slowing down? The reason cars are so space-inefficient is not the few seconds of human driver delay - it's their sheer geometric inefficiency. Even if you have cars running bumper-to-bumper without delay, it will be impossible to get, say, 30k people downtown in the space of a rush hour. It takes so much space and ressources as to make it completely un-viable and undesirable.

The entire system will change when there are a majority of cars autonomously driving and fully communicating with eachother. One need only to look to Vietnam for help :) Crossing a bumper-to-bumper street there looks death-defying, but is actually quite simple.

Crosswalks are easy, push a button, and the cars will either stop, or sufficiently gap themselves as you cross the street. Every car around will moderate to allow for pedestrians crossing. Imagine in a world without lanes, during rush hour, three-lane streets will also moderate themselves to allow for more traffic in specific directions. Plus with no headway, you can easily double and triple the quantity of vehicles on the road, which means that we'll need less space for roads! I envision whole highways being reduced to one or two lanes per direction.

As for corners, the same principles of wheel friction and passenger comfort apply... we'll still need to slow down.