Today, the Ontario Centres of Excellence (OCE) announced that the Ottawa Region will receive up to $5 million through the Autonomous Vehicle Innovation Network (AVIN) to establish an “end-to-end” testing location for AV.
Led by Invest Ottawa, this AVIN Regional Technology Development Site (RTDS) project leverages the capabilities, expertise, cash and in-kind contributions from world-leading companies, post-secondary institutions and our municipality. Contributing partners include Blackberry QNX, Nokia, Juniper Networks, Ericsson, IBM Canada, the City of Ottawa, the National Capital Commission, Carleton University, the University of Ottawa, and Algonquin College.
First Test of AV on Ottawa Roads – October 2017
Building directly on Ottawa’s AV cluster and the city’s strength in communications technologies and cybersecurity, this project will facilitate:
• New wireless communication capabilities for approved AV on-road testing in the Kanata North Tech Park; Canada’s largest technology park.
• The creation of a private, multi-sector test bed to develop, test and evolve technologies, systems, networks and applications in a real-world environment.
• The delivery of entrepreneurship programming which will support the development, commercialization and adoption of new Ottawa AV technologies.
With a strong focus safety, this test area will specifically help firms to address key AV opportunities and challenges including:
• AV operations in inclement weather such as snow, ice, fog, and high winds.
• The development of systems which pinpoint the location of hidden objects.
• Cybersecurity in the context of driverless vehicles – including smart infrastructure and Internet of Things (IoT).
• Interoperability, the ability of computer systems or software to exchange and make use of AV generated data.
• Various communication technologies such as Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V), Vehicle-to-Infrastructure (V2I), Vehicle-to-Network (DSRC/GPS/ 4G/ 5G).
This project will catalyze Ottawa’s contribution to the economy, and Ontario’s global AV innovation leadership, by enabling the:
- Growth and success of homegrown AV companies.
- Attraction of new businesses, investments and talent.
- Creation of new technology jobs.
Congratulations to everyone involved, for helping make Ottawa the AV capital of Canada!
For more information, visit these links:
Ottawa to Create the First Integrated AV Test Environment of Its Kind in North America [EN]
Ottawa to Create the First Integrated AV Test Environment of Its Kind in North America [FR]