Canada finally joins the self-driving club, with a car called ‘Autonomoose’

By Trevor Mogg November 28, 2016

germany self driving car tests mercedes autonomous

When the Canadian province of Ontario announced on January 1 that it was inviting companies to test self-driving cars on its public roads, a deafening silence followed.

Ontario’s autonomous car program is the nation’s first, but for most of this year there seemed to be little interest from companies developing self-driving technology.

Recommended Videos

But better late than never, it appears Canada’s grand plan for autonomous driving research is finally getting into gear.

Autonomoose to hit the road

The province, which is home to the bulk of Canada’s auto industry, revealed this week that three different research groups have this week started testing their self-driving vehicles on public roads.

They include the University of Waterloo, which is using a Lincoln MKZ hybrid sedan with the exquisite nickname Autonomoose; automaker Erwin Hymer Group that’s testing a Mercedes-Benz Sprinter van; and BlackBerry’s QNX division, which is testing its software with a Lincoln.

The teams behind the technologies are allowed to use their cars on any public roads in Ontario, though a safety driver must be behind the wheel at all times should the on-board computers at any point cause the vehicle to make an unexpected move.

Cars will be packed with the usual suite of visual sensors, radar, and sonar technology to help them navigate roads and respond to obstacles.

The aim is to hone the autonomous driving software while testing it in a wide range of traffic and weather conditions. Ross McKenzie of the University of Waterloo told the Globe and Mail that the freedom to go anywhere combined with the province’s variable climate “puts us at a distinct advantage” when it comes to trialing its kit.

While the arrival of self-driving cars on the roads of Canada has been a long time coming, officials said that with the likes of Ford, General Motors, Honda, and Toyota all operating in the province, they hope that more companies will consider joining the scheme with their own autonomous driving projects in the near future.

Topics

Contributing Editor

Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…

Cars

A weird thing just happened with a fleet of autonomous cars

A passenger getting into a Cruise robotaxi.

In what must be one of the weirder stories linked to the development of autonomous vehicles, a fleet of Cruise self-driving cars gathered together at an intersection in San Francisco earlier this week, parked up, and blocked traffic for several hours. And to be clear: No, they weren't supposed to do that.

Some observers may have thought they were witnessing the start of the robot uprising, but the real reason for the mishap was more prosaic: An issue with the platform's software.

Cars

Officers confused as they pull over an empty self-driving car

Cruise

In what appears to be the first incident of its kind, police officers recently pulled over a self-driving car with no one inside it.

The incident, which took place on a street in San Francisco earlier this month, was caught on video by a passing pedestrian. It shows several traffic cops pondering about how to handle the incident after stopping the vehicle for failing to have its front lights on while driving at night.

Cars

How a big blue van from 1986 paved the way for self-driving cars

Lineup of all 5 Navlab autonomous vehicles.

In 1986, a blue Chevy van often cruised around the streets of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania near Carnegie Mellon University. To the casual observer, nothing about it appeared out of the ordinary. Most people would pass by it without noticing the camcorder peeking out from its roof, or the fact that there were no hands on the steering wheel.

But if any passerby had stopped to inspect the van and peer into its interior, they would have realized it was no ordinary car. This was the world's first self-driving automobile: A pioneering work of computer science and engineering somehow built in a world where fax machines were still the predominant way to send documents, and most phones still had cords. But despite being stuck in an era where technology hadn't caught up to humanity's imagination quite yet, the van -- and the researchers crammed into it -- helped to lay the groundwork for all the Teslas, Waymos, and self-driving Uber prototypes cruising around our streets in 2022.