{"id":7592,"date":"2017-10-11T14:52:05","date_gmt":"2017-10-11T18:52:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsroom.carleton.ca\/?post_type=cu_story&p=7592"},"modified":"2025-10-15T10:33:43","modified_gmt":"2025-10-15T14:33:43","slug":"autonomous-vehicles","status":"publish","type":"cu_story","link":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/story\/autonomous-vehicles\/","title":{"rendered":"Autonomous Vehicles On the Move"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n
\n\n \n \n \n \n
\n\n \n
\n
\n\n

\n Autonomous Vehicles On the Move\n <\/h1>\n \n <\/header>\n <\/div>\n\n \n <\/path>\n <\/path>\n <\/svg>\n <\/div>\n\n \n\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n

For the first time anywhere in Canada, an autonomous car is being road tested<\/a> on a public street while communicating with live city infrastructure such as traffic lights and global position system base (GPS) stations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The test area \u2014 on a track that loops around Kanata North Technology Park<\/a>, the country\u2019s largest tech park \u2014 is equipped with the latest GPS and telecommunications technology from high-tech company BlackBerry QNX<\/a> and other local contributors, including NovAtel, Luxcom and Codha Wireless.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tests like the one on Oct. 12 will enable the collection, management and analysis of data from the vehicle and city infrastructure, and allow the municipality to put the information to work in beneficial ways on city roads.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The demonstration is being organized by BlackBerry QNX, which opened the Autonomous Vehicle Innovation Centre<\/a> (AVIC) last year, and a cluster of partners who are working together to develop Ottawa into a national and global leader in the autonomous vehicle industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
The BlackBerry QNX Autonomous Vehicle Innovation Centre (AVIC) resides at the BlackBerry QNX headquarters in Ottawa, Ontario. (Photo: Morguard)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

But long before any rubber hits the road, whether for a test or eventual commercial deployment, research is required to ensure that these exciting new technologies are safe and secure. Which is where Carleton University\u2019s expertise<\/a> in connected cars and next generation wireless systems, sensors and real-time data analytics, software engineering and artificial intelligence come into the picture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Across the university, more than 125 researchers from four faculties are actively engaged in a wide range of projects that can help BlackBerry QNX and partners such as the City of Ottawa, the Kanata North Business Association and Invest Ottawa, as well as about 70 other local companies, put the city on the international autonomous vehicle map.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\n

\u201cWhen it comes to autonomous vehicle innovation, I want people around the world to think of Ottawa as the place making it happen,\u201d Mayor Jim Watson said in a news release.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

\u201cOur rapidly growing ecosystem of customers, partners and developers will benefit from this advancement,\u201d said John Wall, senior vice-president and general manager of BlackBerry QNX and a Carleton Engineering<\/a> graduate. \u201cAnybody who has driven in Ottawa in February knows that no matter who is behind the wheel, driving isn\u2019t easy when it comes to ice, sleet and snow. We believe these conditions, coupled with the city\u2019s commitment to supporting research and development from BlackBerry and its partners, makes Ottawa a fantastic place to advance autonomous vehicle technology.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n

Finding Efficient Safety
\nFeatures for Autonomous Vehicles<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Earlier this year, Ontario became the first province to set a regulatory framework to permit  testing self-driving vehicles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Carleton\u2019s research on fully autonomous vehicles will help pave the way for more efficient safety features that will improve road safety.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Increasing the automation level in vehicles will also extend the number of years of driving for older drivers, making them more mobile and socially engaged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCarleton, the University of Ottawa and Queen\u2019s University believe that the Ottawa region is a national centre for pursuing the research and development of autonomous vehicle technologies,\u201d Carleton Vice-President (Research and International), Rafik Goubran, said in a news release. \u201cEach university\u2019s faculty are producing the scientific research and highly qualified personnel that will position Ottawa as a hub for leading-edge autonomous vehicle design.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Carleton is already working with QNX in a couple of areas, including autonomous vehicle security, and using the company\u2019s software in university labs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last March, Carleton hosted a group from QNX<\/a> that toured campus and visited several laboratories as a stepping stone toward further collaboration.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\n

\u201cWe have a strong interest in the research that\u2019s taking place at the university,\u201d Grant Courville, senior director of product management at QNX, said during the visit.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

\u201cWe wanted to see first-hand some of the labs and meet some of the people who are doing work at Carleton that relates to autonomous vehicle and connected car technology. We want to see where there might be areas of collaboration, and how we can leverage these connections.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n

Advancing the
\nConnected Car Industry<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Among the many researchers at Carleton whose work can help advance the autonomous vehicle and connected car industry are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  • Halim Yanikomeroglu, whose research focuses on customization and adaptation of state-of-the-art 5G wireless networks, multi-hop relaying and co-operative communications for connected vehicles;<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Richard Yu, with research focusing on addressing existing research challenges to make innovative 5G wireless networks more efficient and effective relevant to autonomous systems;<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Yvan Labiche focuses on detecting faults of various black-box software testing techniques and model-driven software engineering relevant for ICT (Information and Communication Technologies) and autonomous vehicles;<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Thomas Kunz focuses on integrating ICT into smart grids, multi-hop wireless networks and bandwidth demand engineering;<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Yuhong Guo focuses on machine learning, artificial intelligence, natural language processing, computer vision and big data analysis;<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Paul Van Oorschot focuses on operating system design, security and authentication management tools;<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Qi-Jun Zhang focuses on modelling, optimizing and design of high-speed and high-frequency electronic devices, circuits and systems used in computers, as well as wireless and wired systems used in telecommunications, and intelligent and autonomous systems;<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Mohamed Atia focuses on real-time embedded systems, sensor-fusion, signal processing, estimation, machine learning and artificial intelligence.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    For the first time anywhere in Canada, an autonomous car is being road tested on a public street while communicating with live city infrastructure such as traffic lights and global position system base (GPS) stations. The test area \u2014 on a track that loops around Kanata North Technology Park, the country\u2019s largest tech park \u2014 is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":410,"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"cu_story_type":[13],"cu_story_tag":[1918],"class_list":["post-7592","cu_story","type-cu_story","status-publish","hentry","cu_story_type-research-discovery","cu_story_tag-faculty-of-engineering-and-design"],"acf":{"cu_post_thumbnail":false},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/7592","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/cu_story"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/410"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/7592\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":98359,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/7592\/revisions\/98359"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7592"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"cu_story_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story_type?post=7592"},{"taxonomy":"cu_story_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story_tag?post=7592"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}