Automotive News Canada - August 2017 - 21

* AUGUST 2017

TRACK
"We found it would be
great if we could have a
chunk of space that was
very similar to the space
we'd have in Las Vegas,"
Buszek said. "It turns out
it's kind of difficult to
find a huge open space of
concrete or asphalt that
you could do whatever
you want with, particularly one that is near the
University of Waterloo,
and this is where we found
[the space] in Stratford.
"We said [to the City of
Stratford] we need a driving area to basically test
out all the things we want
our autonomous vehicle
to do in Las Vegas way
ahead of time and close to
the University of Waterloo
that is writing a lot of the
software."

CO-OPERATIVE PARTNER
"The Mayor of Stratford
[Dan Mathieson], "being
a very passionate person
when it comes to autonomous driving, said [the
city] would love to have
us. That's sort of where the
relationship started." said
Buszek.
"The reason we stayed
in Stratford is because
Stratford was such a fantastic partner. You need a
lot of cooperation from the
city to find a location and
a manageable test environ-

ment and Stratford was
fantastic. They really have
a lot of energy when it
comes to the promotion of
autonomous driving, business and innovation in the
city. That's why we decided to go back."
Stratford is the hub
of Ontario's $80-million
Autonomous Vehicle
Innovation Network
announced in April. It has
a Wi-Fi network that covers the 12 square kilometres of the city.

CHIPPING AWAY
"Just to make that car
do 10 minutes straight of
cool things in a parking lot
is a lot of work, but it's all
worth it," Buszek said.
"At Renesas, we want
to show the world what
our chips can do in autonomous driving, and we
want to have a way for
ourselves to learn more.
If we're going to make
these chips that are specific to autonomous driving, we've got to have a
way to really increase our
knowledge base and figure
what are the features these
chips even need.
"For that, you've got
to understand the application. We've got this collection of chips when integrated a certain way give
you the computing power
for what you need to do for
autonomous driving. You
still need the software to
pull it all together."
- ANC

Connected-car projects are
on Stratford residents' radar
Real-world
tests will
show
automakers
'what Canadian
parts makers
can do'
By PERRY LEFKO

TORONTO CORRESPONDENT

STRATFORD, ONT. -
Citizens of this southern
Ontario city located about 150
kilometres west of Toronto
have differing opinions about
the connected-vehicle projects
that soon will become part of
the local landscape, says Mayor
Dan Mathieson.
"There are those who are
very excited and see it as a
great opportunity," Mathieson
told Automotive News Canada.
"There are those who are cautiously optimistic and have lots
of questions around security
and how it will work and the
safety factor. And others aren't
very excited about technology
at all, just somewhat reserved
about it to the point of wondering, 'do we really need to be
doing this?'"
That attitude comes with
technology and change, he said,
noting change isn't always easy
for everyone.
Renesas, a Japan-based company that makes computer
chips and is heavily involved
in the automotive industry, is
building a closed track that will
open this fall on which autonomous vehicles will be tested.
Last fall, Renesas began testing an autonomous vehicle on a
parking lot and has decided to
return for permanent testing.

There are those who are
very excited and see it as
a great opportunity.
DAN MATHIESON

Mayor, Stratford, Ont.

"I think last winter when we
had Renesas in Stratford, many
people found that interesting,"
Mathieson said.

DEMONSTRATE TO INDUSTRY
Stratford was chosen earlier this year as the demonstration zone for the Ontario
government's five-year,
$80-million Autonomous
Vehicle Innovation
Network. Automotive Parts
Manufacturers' Association
President Flavio Volpe said the
demonstration zone will offer
suppliers and other information technology companies that
have transferred into automotive supply an opportunity to
demonstrate their technology
on operating, rolling vehicles
as it interacts with its environment, other cars and infrastructure.
"Funding is in place, partners are in place and the initial
vehicles are in place," Volpe
told Automotive News Canada.
The vehicles are two Lexus
RX 350 utility vehicles. The

APMA owns a 2013 Lexus RX
350, donated three years ago by
Toyota Manufacturing Canada,
that has been showcased as
part of the APMA's connected-car project.
"The original project we did
with supplier collaboration on
a car, but it was a non-rolling
demonstration," Volpe said.
The new project will feature 20
vehicles equipped with technologies related to autonomous
driving, made by APMA members.
"The cars will be wrapped
and branded and the people in
Stratford will at some point get
used to seeing the fleet in operation. Probably before the end
of the year you'll see the first
cars out there."

MATURE TECHNOLOGY
The project isn't meant to be
a public demonstration project,
Volpe said.
"This is about getting business for Ontario companies.
It will be for small-, mediumand large-sized companies in
Ontario to see if they can get
more business from the major
[automakers]."
A specific location has not
yet been determined for the
demonstrations, Volpe said, nor
has there been a schedule of
dates and times.
"There are other projects
around North America where
[automakers] are testing vehicles and that's why they've
picked a closed course - and
that's for lots of reasons, including public safety," he said.
"Ours will be largely mature
technology. I'll bring [automaker] customers to Stratford and
they'll ride around in the cars
... this is how we're going to
showcase our products to the
[automakers]."
"It's Canadian suppliers
wanting to demonstrate to
[automakers'] real-world application of that technology."
- ANC

Renesas showcased in January an autonomous Lincoln MKZ in
conjunction with the CES technology show in Las Vegas, Nev.
The car was tested at a Stratford parking lot in late 2016. ( P H O T O :

RENESAS)

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Automotive News Canada - August 2017