Canada’s first...

Autonomous Vehicle
connected to
live City infrastructure
on public streets

CAV Canada 2019 Registration, Sponsorship & Showcase Opportunities Now Available

Anchored in the nation’s capital and one of the world’s top tech hubs, CAV Canada is the must-attend event for any innovator, organization or community driving the safe development, commercialization and deployment of connected and autonomous vehicles (CAVs).
CAV Canada 2019 is a must-attend event for any innovator, organization or community this is driving safe development, commercialization and deployment of connected and autonomous vehicles (CAVs). Co-hosted by Kanata North Business Association and Invest Ottawa, and in partnership with CAVCOE and the Ottawa L5 Test Facility, this year’s national event will take place September 9th and 10th at the Brookstreet Hotel in Kanata North – home of Canada’s largest tech Park. The event will showcase two days of networking with prospective partners, investors, customers and talent plus a first-rate program to expand your knowledge.
On Day 2, the conference will also feature an opportunity for delegates to register for tours to see demonstrations of innovative CAV technology both at the new Ottawa L5 CAV Test Facility and tours with CAV leaders in the Kanata North Tech Park.
View the working agenda, sponsorship and showcase opportunities as well as registration information at www.cavcanada.ca. To learn more about possible sponsorship or exhibitor opportunities, please do not hesitate to reach out to Ann Clemensen at ann@cavcanada.ca.

In celebration of National Autonomous Vehicle Day on May 31, 2018, the Kanata North Business Association (KNBA), together with Invest Ottawa and Canadian Automated Vehicles Centre of Excellence (CAVCOE), announced the development and launch of Canada’s first Autonomous Vehicle Technology and Innovator Directory. The first of its kind, this unique and valuable resource provides a comprehensive overview of the growing number of contributors to the Canada’s AV ecosystem. This will include innovators, companies, post-secondary institutions, and other organizations with AV technologies, solutions, and knowhow.

Ottawa is Canada’s AV Capital

The City and BlackBerry QNX are working collaboratively with organizations such as Invest Ottawa and the Kanata North Business Association, as well as researchers and academics at Algonquin College, Carleton University and the University of Ottawa to further establish Ottawa as Canada’s AV capital.


Together, these industry leaders will bring the emerging connected car and AV technologies, products, services and applications developed in Ottawa to the global market.

Ottawa is the first Canadian city to launch testing of an on-street autonomous vehicle (AV) communicating with live City infrastructure.

By partnering with BlackBerry QNX and its Autonomous Vehicle Innovation Centre (AVIC), Ottawa now has the facilities and technology to further the advancement of driverless car testing on active public streets.


Presented by:

Kanata North Business Association

Presented by:


In partnership with:

Ottawa L5 logo

In partnership with:

There are over 70 companies in Ottawa’s AV ecosystem, led by BlackBerry QNX, that are directly contributing their expertise, technology and intelligence to connected cars and autonomous vehicles.

At the heart of Ottawa’s powerful cluster of advanced networking, software and IoT expertise for autonomous vehicles is Canada’s largest technology park – the Kanata North Technology Park.

To learn more, visit kanatanorthbia.ca

The test route, which loops around the Kanata North Technology Park, is equipped with the latest technology from BlackBerry QNX, along with Codha Wireless, Luxcom Technologies and NovAtel. The City’s Traffic Services have optimized the infrastructure within the test route area for communication with autonomous vehicles via Dedicated Short Range Communication (DSRC) transmitters at the traffic lights, re-painted street lines in the test area, and accelerated installation of controllable LED street lights. In the next phase, Nokia will be joining the testbed to add LTE and 5G capability to the route, based on their experience deploying connected car solutions in Germany and elsewhere. The City and Ottawa’s technology community are committed to working together to ensure that the testbed is continually being updated with leading-edge technology.

Want to learn more about AV innovation in Ottawa? We are proud to support the researchers, technology developers and companies that are making breakthroughs – and making AV a reality!

Kanata North Business Association

We look forward keeping you updated on all exciting news in our region, and welcome your questions, comments and feedback! Drop us a line at innovation@ottawaavcluster.com

FAQs

  • Proponents of autonomous vehicles state that, once widely available and adopted, AVs could provide a number of benefits, including:

    • Fewer traffic collisions (through improved collision avoidance);
    • Reduction in traffic congestion/increase in highway capacity;
    • Improved fuel efficiency;
    • Reduced vehicle emissions;
    • Convenience, time savings and lower stress for drivers and commuters;
    • Enhanced mobility; and
    • Other benefits could be realized related to the economy, innovation, infrastructure, environment, land-use planning, etc.
  • Although fully autonomous vehicles are not available to consumers yet, semiautonomous driver assistance systems are. These include technologies like adaptive cruise control, lane assist, self-parking, etc. Once a fully autonomous vehicle becomes available to consumers, it will be able to be operated without driver intervention. Estimates vary, however some manufacturers predict that fully autonomous vehicles will be available to consumers between 2020 and 2025.

  • Every automated vehicle must be equipped with the following safety mechanisms and systems:

    1. A mechanism, easily accessible to the driver, that engages and disengages the automated driving system.
    2. A system that safely alerts the driver if a failure of the automated driving system is detected while it is engaged, and either –
      • requires the driver to take over all the dynamic driving tasks required to operate the vehicle, or
      • if the driver does not or is unable to take over all the dynamic driving tasks required to operate the vehicle, causes the vehicle to safely move out of traffic and come to a complete stop.
    3. A mechanism that allows the driver to take over all the dynamic driving tasks required to operate the vehicle if the automated driving system fails or if the driver disengages the automated driving system.

    Also, the driver of an automated vehicle shall remain at all times in the driver’s seat of the vehicle and shall monitor the vehicle’s operation.

  • Yes, self-driving cars will be much safer than human-driven cars, but not perfect. 93% of traffic collisions involve human error. Barrie Kirk, executive director of the Canadian Automated Vehicles Centre of Excellence predicts as many as 80% of accidents could be eliminated with self-driving cars.

    • Vehicle-to-Infrastructure (V2I) technologies and systems facilitate secure communication between AVs and municipal infrastructure such as traffic lights, with secure communication enabled by a combination of specialized hardware, software, NGN capabilities and 5G networks.
    • V2I refers to a wireless exchange of data between vehicles and roadway infrastructure. This exchange of data is typically bi-directional, allowing data from the roadside to be delivered to the vehicle, and data from the vehicle to be delivered to the roadside.
  • Future projects may include:

    • the ability for AV’s to send a signal to the cities LED street lights so they can turn brighter as the car approaches, and
    • the ability for ambulances and fire trucks to send a signal to the AVs telling them to pull off to the side of the road to provide right of way in emergencies.
  • Uber has opened a Toronto research hub for AV technology, and their self-driving cars are on the streets however they are all always in manual mode. “Manual mode” means that although the cars have self-driving capability, they will be operated by human drivers. The cars aren’t available for rides, they are conducting mapping tasks. Uber hopes to test cars in autonomous mode by the end of 2017.

    • The BlackBerry QNX Autonomous Vehicle Innovation Centre (AVIC) was created to advance technology innovation for connected and autonomous vehicles, independently as well as in collaboration with private and public sector organizations and research institutes. Building on the company’s 20 years of experience and leadership in the automotive industry, the centre will germinate new ideas and transform innovative concepts into reality through advanced engineering projects and demonstration vehicles tested on real roads.
    • Major components of IBM’s Watson, the internationally recognized cognitive system founded on Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning, were developed here in Ottawa, largely thanks to IBM’s acquisition of Cognos Inc. in 2008. Watson contains the equivalent of 100 million books worth of information. Ottawa serves as the global headquarters for IBM’s Data Analytics.
    • In 2016, Amazon launched an R&D and engineering office in Ottawa to develop key applications and solutions for Alexa, the AI assistant that powers Amazon’s voice activated Bluetooth speaker, Echo.
    • Apple has also covertly opened an R&D office in Ottawa.

Want to learn more about why Ottawa is Canada’s AV Capital?

Take a look at how our city is putting the pedal to the metal, and accelerating the innovation with lots of exciting news. The world is watching!