Global Typical Projects of Connected Autonomous Driving

(4) Autonomous shuttle deployment (City of Montreal, City of Candiac, ELA project, Transport Canada)

In recent years, there have been several autonomous shuttle pilots across Canada. – The City of Montreal previously tested a 12-passenger autonomous bus to help tourists travel between three major tourist attractions; and a 15-passenger fully electric autonomous shuttle to transport passengers around a shopping plaza. (For more information, visit: https://www.reddeeradvocate.com/business/automated-buses-to-be-tested-in-montreal-6733018). – The City of Candiac, Coolis Canada, NAVYA, Quebec Advancement and Technopôle IVÉO have been piloting a fully electric autonomous shuttle on public roads. Candiac’s route is 2 km long and travels between a large public transportation hub, city hall and local businesses. (For more information, visit: https://space.uitp.org/initiatives/candiac-av-canada). – Electric Autonomous Shuttles (ELAs) have been tested in several cities in Western Canada. The project used an all-electric 12-passenger shuttle to gather feedback from residents on their experience with autonomous vehicles and facilitate cold weather testing. (For more information, visit: https://www.ridewithela.ca/).– Transport Canada tested a 6-passenger all-electric shuttle to better understand the driving capabilities of low-speed autonomous shuttles. Testing included closed-course testing and road trials in Ottawa, during which the vehicle was exposed to winter conditions. (For more information, visit: https://tc.canada.ca/en/corporate-services/transport-canada-s-annual-research-development-deployment-highlights#highlight6).

(5) Automotive Centre of Excellence (ACE) - Ontario Institute of Technology

The Automotive Centre of Excellence (ACE) is the first independent testing and research centre of its kind in Canada and is owned and operated by the University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT). It is a multi-purpose centre divided into two parts: a core research facility and an integrated research and training facility. It was developed in partnership with UOIT, General Motors Canada, the Government of Ontario, the Government of Canada and the Partnership for the Advancement of Collaborative Engineering Education (PACE). It is a fitting location for testing alternative fuel, hybrid and electric vehicles. Please visit https://ace.ontariotechu.ca/index.php for more information.

(6) Calgary V2I Testbed

The City of Calgary received funding from Transport Canada to build a connected vehicle corridor on 16th Avenue North, consisting of 16 dual-mode (DSRC and C-V2X) RSEs. The main focus of the project is to test the preemption capabilities of emergency vehicles, and 4 fire trucks were equipped with OBEs for testing. In addition, the corridor is being used in collaboration with the Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB) to test an application that helps visually impaired pedestrians use crosswalks . More information can be found here: https://www.calgary.ca/roads/connected-vehicles.html

(7) Collaborative Truck Platooning System (CTPS) Testing and Guidance

Transport Canada is conducting track testing of cooperative truck platooning at its Motor Vehicle Test Centre in Blainville, Quebec, to test the fuel consumption and behavior of platoon trucks. Test scenarios included emergency braking events and vehicle cut-ins. The test results help Transport Canada determine the conditions under which platooning can operate safely. In addition, the Alberta Motor Transport Association is conducting road trials using an existing Canadian truck fleet staffed by professional drivers from Transport Canada. The trials are studying human factors (driver fatigue, vigilance, etc.) as well as vehicle analytics (fuel consumption, traffic interactions, etc.). The results of the studies will be used to advance Canada’s national platooning guidance, best practices and standards. For more information, visit https://tc.canada.ca/en/corporate-services/transport-canada-s-annual-research-development-deployment-highlights#highlight3

(8) Motor Vehicle Testing Center (MVTC)

The Motor Vehicle Test Centre (MVTC) is a world-class facility that supports transportation-related research, development and demonstration. Transport Canada and PMG Technologies have collaborated to test collision avoidance systems such as lane keeping assist, automatic emergency braking and pedestrian detection, as well as vehicle-to-vehicle (V2X) technologies in a variety of environments. The site features environmental test chambers, low-speed, high-speed and dynamic test tracks, and an intersection equipped with traffic control devices. More information is available here: https://www.tc.gc.ca/en/services/road/innovative-technologies/automated-connected-vehicles/testing-research.html

(9) Regional Technology Development Site (RTDS)

The Ontario Vehicle Innovation Network (OVIN) is an initiative of the Government of Ontario to accelerate the development and commercialization of electric, connected and autonomous vehicles and mobility technologies. It has seven Regional Technology Development Sites (RTDS), each focusing on unique aspects of the automotive and smart mobility industries, such as hardware, safety and data analytics. The RTDS are located in Waterloo, Ottawa, Hamilton, Durham, Windsor-Essex, Toronto and the Northern RTDS, which includes Greater Sudbury, Thunder Bay, Timmins, Temiskaming Shores, Sault. Marie and North Bay. The development sites are used to bring stakeholders together to support the testing, validation and commercialization of automotive technologies. In addition, the sites provide dedicated equipment and support regional testing and trials of technologies. For more information on the development sites, visit https://www.ovinhub.ca/ecosystem/regional-technology-development-sites/ The U.S. government is actively conducting a range of regulatory and non-regulatory activities to promote the adoption of autonomous vehicles, with the overall goal of promoting the safe and comprehensive integration of autonomous vehicle technology into the national surface transportation system. Such integration will help realize the tremendous potential of autonomous vehicle technology to enhance public safety, improve system efficiency, and promote economic vitality. The United States has not identified any spectrum specific to CAVs. In 2020, U.S. regulators decided to reduce the 75 MHz of spectrum previously allocated to ITS to 30 MHz at 5895-5925 MHz, with provisions for the use of 3GPP cellular vehicle-to-everything technologies. U.S. regulators determined that with the availability of cellular networks and other technologies such as ultrasonic sensors , lidar , perception sensors, optical cameras, and automotive radar , 30 MHz in the 5.9 GHz band is sufficient for currently defined safety-related use cases. The United States has used 76-81GHz for automotive radar applications that support road safety, including long-range radar for automatic emergency braking and adaptive cruise control systems. U.S. regulators also concluded that "DSRC-based ITS does not deliver on the promise of the originally identified ITS goals." Previous DSRC-based ITS deployments have ended or are transitioning to the 5895-5925 MHz band under new exemption rules. An initial exemption for LTE - based C-V2X deployments is under review as of July 2023. The FCC is still finalizing the final rules and operating parameters.

(10) CARMA

The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) has developed the innovative CARMASM platform to encourage cooperation and improve transportation efficiency and safety. FHWA’s interest in advancing Transportation System Management and Operations (TSMO) strategies with automated driving technologies focuses on how infrastructure can make transportation more efficient. CARMA enables automated driving systems ( ADS ) to navigate more safely and efficiently by communicating and cooperating with other vehicles and roadway infrastructure. CARMA is designed using open source software (OSS) and is available on GitHub. This unique platform was created to work with any vehicle, hardware, or control system. By simplifying software development and providing more capabilities and a developer community, CARMA enables research and development of collaborative automated driving system (CADS) capabilities to support TSMO. CARMA will also develop concepts of operations for new TSMO strategies, such as identifying traffic incident management (TIM) scenarios, and providing new strategies for first responder use cases that interact with ADS. This research will accelerate market readiness and deployment of collaborative automated driving technologies while advancing safety, cybersecurity, data, and artificial intelligence . In addition to reducing traffic congestion and improving transportation safety, CARMA will support industry collaboration and expand existing automation capabilities to reduce development time and advance collaborative autonomous driving technology. CARMA promotes collaboration and participation in the engineer and researcher community to promote the understanding of collaborative autonomous driving using OSS and agile project management practices. URL: https://highways.dot.gov/research/research-programs/operations/carma-overview

(11) Vehicle formation

In June 2018, the Federal Highway Administration, in partnership with the Virginia Department of Transportation and express lane operator TransUrban, tested a collaborative automated driving system on Virginia’s I-95 express lanes. FHWA has previously conducted human factors research and controlled testing of collaborative adaptive cruise control, but the Virginia test was conducted on an open road. This research project represents the next step in how to evaluate CDA’s potential to reduce traffic congestion. URL: https://highways.dot.gov/automation