Automotive News Canada - February 2018 - 28

FINAL ASSEMBLY

28
28

* F E B R U A R Y 2018

02.18

LETTING LOOSE A BIT ON THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF AUTOMOTIVE

2.2
THIS NUMBER

MILLION

The number
of vehicles
that Canadian
assembly
plants built in
2017, a drop of
200,000 from
the year before,
according to
DesRosiers
Automotive
Consultants

FLYING CARS: There's a programming class for that
U of Toronto prof will
teach Udacity course
on 'robots flying in
dynamic environments'
A CANADIAN PROFESSOR MIGHT
soon have people flying high . . . in
their cars.
The University of Toronto's
Angela Schoellig will teach a course
on coding flying cars. She's now
part of Udacity, the online education

Dealership
staff corners
key stealers
After a chase on foot,
one thief apologizes,
drops keys and flees

STAFF AT A B.C. NEW-CAR
dealership found themselves in hot
pursuit of two people who allegedly ran
off with keys to new cars.
When staff at Maple Ridge
Volkswagen realized the keys had been
stolen, they pursued two culprits who
had fled on foot, according to the Maple
Ridge-Pitt Meadows News.
After the alleged thieves split up,
staff pursued one man and briefly
trapped him inside the double doors of
a Safeway grocery store, with police on
their way.
According to the newspaper, he
threatened his pursuers with bear
spray and told them he would jump
in front of traffic if they continued to
try to apprehend him. After the dealer staff gave him some space, the thief
dropped some keys and apologized for
his crime, then escaped.
Police in Maple Ridge, a city of
82,000 located northeast of downtown Vancouver, told Automotive
News Canada at press time that they
had identified a suspect but were still
investigating. - ANC

SAY WHAT?

This could
not be a
dumber move at a
more important time.

Automotive Parts
Manufacturers' Association
President Flavio Volpe on Canada
agreeing to the Comprehensive
and Progressive Agreement
for Trans-Pacific Partnership.

startup founded by self-driving car
veteran Sebastian Thrun. Schoellig
will teach aerial robotics.
"Robots flying in dynamic environments must be able to learn and
adapt. Our first term provides the
necessary foundation in estimation,
controls, and planning," Schoellig
wrote in a course description on
Udacity's website.
Meanwhile, applications are being
accepted for its newest class: a twoterm course on engineering a flying
car. The $2,400 program will begin
in late February, helping engineers
develop skills for jobs at large aero-

nautics companies or the latest wave
of flying car startups.
"Safety is priority 1, 2, and 3 for
anything that flies, and is an absolute must for flying cars," Thrun
said in a statement. "Right now there
simply aren't enough engineers who
know what it takes to deliver this."
Thrun, who led Google's "moonshot lab" where its self-driving project was born, began Udacity in 2012.
It provides "nanodegree" programs,
teaching specialized skills to meet
the rising talent demand in fields
such as self-driving cars and virtual
reality. - ANC

University of
Toronto professor
Angela Schoellig
specializes in
autonomous
aerial vehicles
for environmental
monitoring, healthcare delivery and
other applications.
( P H O T O : R O B E R TA
BAKER/UNIVERSITY
OF TORONTO)

KNOT
LIKELY?

Marchionne says he'll actually
wear a tie again if FCA's
debt is gone by June
IT HAS BEEN MORE THAN
12 years since Fiat Chrysler
CEO Sergio Marchionne wore
a tie in public. It last happened
on June 1, 2005, when Italy's
President Giorgio Napolitano
handed him the Cavaliere del
Lavoro award in Rome.
The FCA boss hates ties so
much he even hinted that a
15-year-old CBC "correspondent" working the Detroit auto
show in January ditch the look.
"Do you always dress like
that, with a tie?" Marchionne
asked the very professional

Honda sends
two cars to Ontario
tech-studies
programs
A FIELD TRIP TO HONDA
Canada's assembly plant in
Alliston, Ont., turned into a bit
of an eventual show-and-tell for
some Northern Ontario high
school students.
Months after Grade 11 and
12 students from Kevin Baker's
technological design course at
Northern Secondary School
in North Bay, Ont., toured
the plant, they received a 2017
Honda Civic Si from the automaker. Honda is also sending
the school two four-cylinder turbocharged engine transmission
assemblies.
The idea is to give students
learning opportunities in sci-

looking Kegun Morkin
during an exchange.
"I'm a lot older than you,
and I don't wear those things."
That could change.
Marchionne usually wears a
black sweater, but he has promised that if the automaker zeros
out its debt by the time he presents FCA's new five-year strategic plan on June 1, he'll wear
a tie again. For everyone to see.
FCA's net industrial debt
stood at US $5.38 billion on

Sept. 30, 2017, and the company's guidance called for debt
to be reduced to less than $3.06
billion at the end of 2017. FCA
reported Jan. 25 that it cut its
industrial debt almost in half
in 2017, down to US $2.97 billion.
And, we'll believe that
Marchionne will wear a tie
when we see it. - ANC

CIVIC CLASS
Northern Secondary School students in North
Bay, Ont., receive a Honda Civic Si as a tool
for learning about automotive technology.
(PHOTO: NORTHERN SECONDARY SCHOOL)

ence, technology, engineering and math
(STEM). The automaker says the programs
align with the current
automotive manufacturing job market.
The students originally made the trip to

Alliston in November
of 2017. They learned
about robotics, manufacturing and careers
in the auto sector.
"This tremendous
donation will bring an
awareness to our students about post-sec-

Sergio
Marchionne
in a tie
is a rare
sight, even
for Sergio
Marchionne.
(PHOTO: FCA)

ondary opportunities which
include employment, apprenticeships, college and university pathways," Northern
Principal Laurent Paquette
said in a news release.
"It is a great experience for
the students who took part
in the trip to be able to see a
transition of the vehicle being
built in the assembly plant
and having the final product
back in their school."
The automaker also
sent a 2017 Civic to Brett
Palamar's auto tech class at
Bracebridge and Muskoka
Lakes Secondary school in
Bracebridge, Ont.
Honda built its first
Canada-made Civic in
1988 at Honda of Canada
Manufacturing, which now
serves as the global lead
plant for the tenth-generation
Civic model. The facility has
churned out more than five
million Civics to date. - ANC

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Automotive News Canada - February 2018