University of Waterloo Autonomoose

Excerpt from the official news from UWaterloo:

“I am pleased to announce that the University of Waterloo is one of the first approved applicants of our Automated Pilot Vehicle program. As a result Waterloo will be among the first eligible to operate an autonomous vehicle on a public roadway in
Canada” said Steven Del Duca (Ontario’s Minister of Transportation).

The researchers from the University of Waterloo Centre for Automotive Research (WatCAR) are modifying a Lincoln
MKZ Hybrid to autonomous drive-by-wire operation.

The research platform named ‘Autonomoose‘ includes:

• A full suite of radar sonar lidar inertial and vision sensors.
• Powerful embedded computers to run a complete autonomous driving system integrating sensor fusion path planning and motion control software.
• Custom autonomy software stack being developed at Waterloo as part of the research.

Based on the SAE International standard for automated driving (SAE J3016 a 0-5 scale) the vehicle will initially operate at level 2. Through the duration of the research program the team will advance the automation to level 3 and ultimately level 4.

The Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) provided initial research funding. Nine professors are involved from the Faculty of Engineering and Faculty of Mathematics as well as the Wavelab group.

Specific Projects:

• Improve self-driving in all-weather conditions that are specific to Canada
  • Simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) in all weather conditions
  • Autonomous maneuvers under extreme conditions
• Optimize self-driving for fuel efficiency and reduced emissions
  • Power-management controllers for autonomous driving
• Provide methods to design safe robust computer-based controls for self-driving vehicles
  • Feature-oriented engineering (FOE)[1]
  • Runtime monitoring and reconfiguration infrastructure for autonomous driving
  • Fault-tolerant electric/electronic (E/E) architectures for autonomous vehicles
  • Functional safety for software and components of autonomous vehicle systems

AutonomouStuff is proud to support efforts from universities such as the University of Waterloo. Enabling the future of transportation is what we do and it’s groups like this one who are making it possible every day. Interested in being a part of the future? Contact us.