Ottawa Hosts Historic Debut of IoT Enabled Autonomous Vehicles
Ottawa made history on October 12, 2017 becoming the first Canadian city to demonstrate an Autonomous Vehicle (AV) taking the road on an active AV-supporting public infrastructure. Among other Internet of Things (IoT) technologies, Direct Short Range Communication (DSRC) was used by the AV to communicate with its roadside environment, including traffic lights, to safely and efficiently navigate the route without driver intervention. IoT613 team members were on hand to witness the event firsthand.
The demonstration took place in the Kanata North region of Ottawa, Ontario, home to over 500 tech companies, employing approximately 21,000, many of whom came out to see the demo. This day was made possible through concerted collaboration between the city, Blackberry QNX, Invest Ottawa, and the Kanata North BIA. The crowd was addressed by Jim Watson, Ottawa’s mayor, Mike Tremblay, CEO of Invest Ottawa, John Wall, CEO of Blackberry QNX, and Jenna Sudds, Executive Director of Kanata North BIA. A couple of clear messages came through – Ottawa is not just the nation’s capital but also Canada’s AV capital, and Ottawa competes on its capabilities with real proof points such as this event.
