Self-driving vehicles

[J.OT13]

A larger version of that Aurrigo would be a great way to get people from the Moodie Station to DND and eventually a Kanata North loop with Confederation Line connection.

[OTownandDown]

Originally Posted by zzptichka

Shouting and honking at a robot is kinda stupid.
I expect people will be annoyed at first but eventually will accept it as a given and it will actually lead to better driving habits all around.

You're all commenting based on your lived experience in Canada (or larger North American) driving standards.

Take Switzerland for example, or even parts of Australia. These countries are absolutely covered with traffic cameras for red lights and speed. And in Switzerland, the speed limit actively changes and gets updated based on driving conditions (the signs are digital, or the old-school analog flip-signs). Nobody speeds, and nobody goes through red lights. A real boring drive

[Tesladom]

Originally Posted by O-Town Hockey

This is very exciting. My only concern will be having to drive the speed limit all the time once my car takes over, particularly on the 417 where 100km/hr seems painfully slow. Anyone think we could be looking at 120km/hr once the cars are running the show?

I have a Tesla Model 3 with Enhanced Auto Pilot, still considered Level 2 autonomy by definition (or by regulations) but much better than anything else on the road.
You can set the speed over posted speed limit, for 2-lane roads it is limited to +10km/hr., but 400 series divided highways can be set much higher (don't know if there is an upper limit, haven't tried)
You want to keep up with the flow of traffic, but honestly once you have this you don't care about being the one driving at 125, I'm good at 115 in autopilot, so relaxing it becomes "zen-like" to drive

[rocketphish]

Kanata North workers ride autonomous pods through Marshes Golf Course

By: Craig Lord
Published: Aug 27, 2019 4:54pm EDT



Workers in Kanata North had the chance to take an autonomous pod for a spin around the Marshes Golf Club this week, a pilot run that could be a first step in alleviating some of the research park’s traffic woes.

Some 350 workers from 40 companies in the Kanata North tech park will travel through the golf course from Monday to Wednesday this week. There are no drivers piloting carts past the Marches’ fairways, however: two autonomous pods, developed by the U.K.’s Aurrigo, will shuttle passengers across the course.

The event, hosted by the Kanata North Business Association, Invest Ottawa and other partners, is the first pilot run for Aurrigo in North America and the first public test of infrastructure developed through Ottawa’s L5 test facilities. The event isn’t just for fun, either: participants will deliver their feedback on the pilot to inform future public testing, and infrastructure such as the Ottawa-made SmartCone are interacting with the pods along the route.

Members of Ottawa’s tech community, including Wesley Clover chairman Terry Matthews, attended the event’s launch on Monday, alongside a number of local dignitaries such as Mayor Jim Watson, who quipped to Kanata North Coun. Jenna Sudds that he had his doubts about his safety riding in one of the futuristic vehicles.

“I hope it works. If it doesn’t, Jenna, you can be mayor,” he said, earning a laugh from the crowd.

Companies such as BlackBerry QNX and automotive giant Ford are among those in the Kanata tech park developing self-driving technologies that could one day enable wider deployment of pods and other autonomous transportation options in cities across Canada.

Veronica Farmer, the KNBA’s director of operations, told Techopia that the public demonstration is useful for laying the groundwork for wide-scale adoption of autonomous technologies in the near future.

“Technology demonstrations have this wonderful effect of helping people envision this in the future, to see what the art of the possible is,” she said.

The pilot project could also help address a common pain point in the tech park: traffic. Growing companies such as Kinaxis are avoiding the park, with the company’s employees citing traffic woes in the area as motivation to instead shift the firm’s headquarters to Kanata West.

Autonomous pods like Aurrigo’s are being touted as a possible solution for the so-called first and last mile of transportation. Farmer said while this might not be the short-term solution for congestion on Kanata roads, it’s invaluable to show how technology being developed in the park itself could help to solve problems close to home.

“Obviously, four-seater pods are not going to solve our commuting challenges,” she said.

“But what you can see is, this kind of technology, when married with infrastructure improvements, is a way for us to demonstrate we are world-class in Kanata North.”

The Ride the Pod trial sets the stage for the upcoming Connected and Autonomous Vehicles Canada conference, running Sept. 9 and 10 at the Brookstreet Hotel. The event will include nearly a dozen panels on AV tech, with keynote talks from Rahul Singh, the head of autonomous vehicle software development at Ford, and Anita Sengupta, the chief product officer of Airspace Experience Technologies.

VIDEO: https://www.facebook.com/techopiaOTT...7418403761206/

https://obj.ca/techopia-kanata-north...arshes-aurrigo

[rocketphish]

Self-driving shuttle gearing up for historic road test at Tunney's Pasture

By: David Sali, OBJ
Published: Nov 2, 2020 4:56pm EST



A self-driving shuttle van is set to hit the road at Tunney’s Pasture in a first-of-its-kind trial that local industry officials hope will cement Ottawa’s position as a global R&D hotbed for autonomous vehicle technology.

The $500,000 pilot project, the first under the Ontario Automated Vehicle Testing Program, will run from Nov. 3-13. It will see a six-person electric vehicle built by European firm EasyMile travel a four-stop, 1.5-kilometre loop around the Tunney’s Pasture campus at speeds of up to 15 kilometers per hour.

The shuttle will travel a pre-programmed route using sensors and artificial intelligence software to keep track of its surroundings and detect obstacles. An operator will be on board at all times to take control of the vehicle if necessary.

While Invest Ottawa and its technology partners have previously run trials of automated shuttles on a custom-designed route at the Area X.O test facility in the city’s south end, the new project will put the autonomous vehicle through its paces in a more complicated real-world setting.

Invest Ottawa CEO Michael Tremblay said the trial will allow the project’s backers to see just how well the technology holds up under various weather conditions ​– for example, whether near-freezing temperatures shorten battery life.

The trial will also showcase technology from a pair of local startups.



Smart-sensor manufacturer SmartCone’s AutoGuardian system will send out alerts warning pedestrians and other vehicles that the shuttle is approaching and remind passengers to don masks before boarding.

“It’s really great to be able to have that capability to prep us for larger deployments,” said AutoGuardian CEO Tenille Houston.

Meanwhile, members of the general public will be able to book rides on the shuttle through Ottawa-based startup RideShark’s platform.

Up to five people who live in the same household can register for a limited number of pre-scheduled rides on a first-come, first-served basis. Employees working at the Tunney’s Pasture complex can also hop on the shuttle without a reservation.

Tremblay said Invest Ottawa aims to run up to eight similar pilots annually on public roads over the next couple of years as the agency and its partners refine technologies used to make self-driving cars safer and more efficient.

“We certainly do hope to see many more,” he said.

Noting that the autonomous vehicles industry is expected to be worth up to $60 billion globally by 2030, Tremblay said Ottawa ​– with its wealth of embedded software and cybersecurity know-how ​– is poised to be a major player in the sector. He said more than 100 organizations in the capital region are already involved in the industry, adding he expects that number to just keep rising.

“The goal is to build up more and more capability locally with our domestic entrepreneur base and continue to attract investment from foreign investors into our region,” he said. “If you want to go after a $60-billion market, that’s one way to go after it.”

The news of the historic shuttle trial comes just weeks after the federal government announced it was investing $7 million into new technology at Area X.O, formerly known as the L5 track.

In addition, private-sector partners such as Accenture, BlackBerry QNX, Ericsson, Microsoft and Nokia as well as the City of Ottawa will contribute up to $10 million in equipment and services at the 16-kilometre gated facility on Woodroffe Avenue.

Invest Ottawa, which manages the facility, said the investment of cash and material will create as many as 200 new jobs and make the nation’s capital a world leader in the development of self-driving vehicle technology.

https://www.obj.ca/article/techopia/...unneys-pasture

[YOWetal]

Originally Posted by ssiguy

Autonomous cars also open up huge number of questions in terms of responsibility.

If you car gets into an accident which they invariably all will, then what happens. Snow, ice, mechanical/computer errors will continue to exists regardless of whether the car is self driving or not. So what happens to insurance? If your car hits another one due to mechnical/compiuter error, are you still responsible? If the car was doing the driving does that mean any insurance you must pay could be recouped by suing the car company? How can you be held responsible for your driving when you weren't even driving? Isn't that akin to be held personally responsible if your taxi get's into an accident? Is drunk 'driving' now considered legal if your car is doing the driving?

Will we even have driving test or legal limits anymore? Again, isn't that like having to be a certain age or have a driver's liscense to take a cab? You don't have to be a certain age or have a lift certification to take an elevator. You don't have to have a liscense to take a bus. What's the difference? Driverless cars are, when you get right to the basics, are nothing but a personal taxi service. Does this also mean that driving is no longer a privledge but a right like taking a bus or cab?

Autonomous cars maybe much further down the road than we think. Even if the technology is perfected, it will take years or even decades of endless court cases to determine the amount, if any, responsibility a person has for an accident. If it is decided by the courts that it is the manufacturer that bears responsibility, then all the car makers will quickly retreat finding that their autonomous cars are costing them a fortune.

Agree. Technology is really hard to predict. We often assume a trend will continue when in fact often times they stall.

[roger1818]

Originally Posted by YOWetal

Agree. Technology is really hard to predict. We often assume a trend will continue when in fact often times they stall.

Agreed. Despite how difficult it will be to work out the technical details of autonomous vehicles (especially all the edge cases), that that will actually be the the easy part in getting widespread adoption.

[Kitchissippi]

I could see segregated podways becoming a thing though, they can be cheap and easy to construct like bike tracks wide MUPs. These things would be great as a DND campus-Moodie station shuttle

[zzptichka]

Not sure they can be useful during peak hours. But as a last-mile during off-peak, these little electric buses could be a game-changer for transit.

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by Kitchissippi

I could see segregated podways becoming a thing though, they can be cheap and easy to construct like bike tracks wide MUPs. These things would be great as a DND campus-Moodie station shuttle

That and Kanata Business Parks.

Huge Federal Campuses, like Tunney's (check) and Confederation Heights could also benefit. Really, it's a great "last mile" solution.

[Kitchissippi]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

That and Kanata Business Parks.

Huge Federal Campuses, like Tunney's (check) and Confederation Heights could also benefit. Really, it's a great "last mile" solution.

Or even suburbs with loopy arterials and greenspace cut-thrus. It wouldn't be difficult to thread a loop through Blackburn Hamlet and link it to Blair or a future Jasmine station

[roger1818]

Originally Posted by zzptichka

Not sure they can be useful during peak hours. But as a last-mile during off-peak, these little electric buses could be a game-changer for transit.

And that is the problem. Off-peak they have plenty of vehicles available to use. If they can't be used during peak periods, their purchase becomes a new capital expense. That is one reason why OC Transpo hasn't bought any minibuses is it is cheaper to use their existing fleet even though the fuel costs are higher.

[Richard Eade]

Yup. There can be, seemingly, great ideas that either can’t gain acceptance (Fly-wheel energy storage has been ‘on the verge’ for over a hundred years) or they can’t get over that last technical hurdle (Fuel-cells have been 5-years away from wide-scale use for the last 50 years).

The use of such complex technology as ‘self-driving’, autonomous, vehicles for running around a business campus is, somewhat, ridiculous. It would be much cheaper, faster, and easier to simply install a fixed track pod system that is capable of stopping for an obstacle in its way. And if such a simple system has not been installed, then why would you believe that these, expensive, risky, autonomous pods would be adopted for the task?

Yes, I get that this could be viewed as a ‘stepping-stone’ on the way to full autonomous vehicles running around on the public streets, among other traffic, but is this stage of development a product that is actually useful in its own right? Just as an airport provides a ‘shuttle’ that moved people from one terminal building to another along a fixed routing, large campuses can do the same. Public transit should provide service to reasonable access points of large campuses and then the campus authorities should provide the intra-campus distribution.

As for last-mile service; it seems that most people are thinking about very small numbers of people (like one or two people, going to the same address). If four people get off a bus, and each wants to go in a different direction, then four pods would be needed to make them all happy. Otherwise, the four would climb into one pod and last one has to drive all around to the other’s specific addresses before getting dropped off. Is that really better service than having the four people stay in the bus (no transfer to a pod needed) and have the bus circle around a loop that gets each close to (within walking distance of) their destination?

[HighwayStar]

Trucks are actually ahead of cars in this regard.... in a sense they are easier as they operate on highways and never stray to far from an on/off ramp (i.e. no expectation of navigating through a crowded city)... but this will surely test some of the legal aspects referred to above.

There was a very interesting 60 Minutes segment a couple of months ago:

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/driverl...es-2020-08-23/

https://cdllife.com/2020/60-minutes-...-road-by-2021/

[Kitchissippi]

Originally Posted by Richard Eade

As for last-mile service; it seems that most people are thinking about very small numbers of people (like one or two people, going to the same address). If four people get off a bus, and each wants to go in a different direction, then four pods would be needed to make them all happy. Otherwise, the four would climb into one pod and last one has to drive all around to the other’s specific addresses before getting dropped off. Is that really better service than having the four people stay in the bus (no transfer to a pod needed) and have the bus circle around a loop that gets each close to (within walking distance of) their destination?

The way I see it is if four people get on a pod with different destinations, the software/AI would figure out the shortest route between them. Incompatible destinations would not be grouped so they may be split into two or more pods from the origin.

We already have a great system of postal codes — I envision one stop per code in a scenario where someone gets off a suburban LRT station into a terminal with numerous gates. You punch in your postal code and you’re directed to a gate number where there are other people with destinations compatible to an efficient route. The pod configures a custom itinerary to each local stop

At each local postcode stop there would be something akin to an elevator button where you can swipe your Presto Card to summon a pod. One of the roving pods would respond to you by altering their itinerary to take you to the LRT hub, or you can enter a postal code once you board (or do it via a smart phone ap), and you are given instructions whether that specific pod can take you to your destination or if you have to make transfers.

[Catenary]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

That and Kanata Business Parks.

Huge Federal Campuses, like Tunney's (check) and Confederation Heights could also benefit. Really, it's a great "last mile" solution.

This seems like a particularity good location. OC operates the 54 on a very similar route every 15-30 minutes all day. Though it fills a need, demand is very low and an AV could easily replace it.

[CityTech]

Originally Posted by Kitchissippi

The way I see it is if four people get on a pod with different destinations, the software/AI would figure out the shortest route between them. Incompatible destinations would not be grouped so they may be split into two or more pods from the origin.

We already have a great system of postal codes — I envision one stop per code in a scenario where someone gets off a suburban LRT station into a terminal with numerous gates. You punch in your postal code and you’re directed to a gate number where there are other people with destinations compatible to an efficient route. The pod configures a custom itinerary to each local stop

At each local postcode stop there would be something akin to an elevator button where you can swipe your Presto Card to summon a pod. One of the roving pods would respond to you by altering their itinerary to take you to the LRT hub, or you can enter a postal code once you board (or do it via a smart phone ap), and you are given instructions whether that specific pod can take you to your destination or if you have to make transfers.

I like this idea a lot.

[Catenary]

I went and rode the autonomous shuttle today, and encourage others to do so if you have a chance this week.

The experience is very interesting. The vehicles are basically off the shelf, the operator indicated that they just do some custom overlays depending on how the specific system is to function with regard to routing, demand, etc. They trial itself is run well, with good sanitation practices and so on.

The shuttles are nice. They're small vehicles for sure, but because they're a box they are spacious inside. There's plenty of room for a wheelchair to enter and turn around, though not enough room for a scooter to do the same. The interior seems to be high quality, with fixtures you'd recognize from any other public transit vehicle.

The automation is interesting. It seemed very timid, yielding at stop signs to all other traffic. We did get stuck behind an improperly parked vehicle at one point, requiring manual intervention to guide the vehicle around. There's a pleasant gong sound to warn when the vehicle starts to move. The safety person on board was very knowledgeable and happy to answer questions.

Overall, though I don't think we'll see full scale autonomous cars anytime soon, this technology seemed very mature. I can see a number of places in Ottawa where it would work well, especially for last mile. Tunney's is a great location (I've mentioned route 54 before), but Carling Campus and the General Hospital also come to mind - basically anywhere with quiet roads and last-mile demand. Because the vehicles are small, it would be also easy to create exclusive-use roads easily, as they wouldn't need to be much bigger than a MUP.

[Richard Eade]

SAE looks like it has adjusted its 0-5-level Autonomous Vehicle descriptions:

[Truenorth00]

I heard a great interview with Jarrett Walker of Human Transit (great transit blog) on The Disruptor's arguing against overvaluing autonomous vehicles:

https://disruptors.fm/158-elons-wron...arrett-walker/

His thesis is really simple. The spatial realities of individual transport (40 people on a bus vs. 40 people in AEVs) along with induced demand is likely to negate a lot of the benefits of autonomous vehicles.

It's from 2019. Saw it hadn't been posted. Great listen.