Driving into the Future: When will autonomous cars be ready for Canada? | Driving

On March 10, Driving is presenting the latest in its series of Driving into the Future virtual panels: When will autonomous cars be ready for Canada? This may come as a surprise but we at Driving are as confused as you are about the future of autonomous automobiles.

That’s not because self-driving cars are incredibly complicated; rather, it’s the conflicting messages being put forward by automakers, politicians, and industry analysts. On one hand we have reports of Waymo self-driving cars already running around driverless in California. On the other, delays in the commercialization of self-driving cars seem endless.

Making the matters more confusing for Canadians is our harsh climate, which creates even more challenging needs—the snow, ice, salt and sand that are a Canadian winter—making the production of robotic cars even more problematic.

That’s why we’re presenting our When will autonomous cars be ready for Canada roundtable. In our discussion, we’ll disseminate the differences in levels of self-driving, from the merely automated driver aids we are familiar with today through the semi-autonomous and all the way to fully-robotic Level V autonomy. We’ll look into the differences in technologies needed to make self-driving work—cameras, radar and even lasers.

Most of all however, we’ll try and determine how long it will be before the promise of self-driving is fulfilled. Will Canada, again because of its weather, lag behind more temperate climes? Can robots safely navigate a snow-covered road? How can we make these computerized cars more reliable when they’re covered in salt and sand? And, perhaps most importantly, if completely autonomous driving is in our future, will we even be allowed to drive our own cars?

Helping us answer all those questions is Dr. Ryan Eustice, senior vice-president of Automated Driving at the Toyota Research Institute; Stefanie Bruinsma, University of Waterloo’s industry engagement officer; Paul Rudy, co-founder and CMO of Kyocera SLD Laser; and Raed Kadri, head of Ontario’s Autonomous Vehicle Innovation Network.

Join us on March 10, 11 AM as we explore yet more boundaries in automotive technology. What you learn may not only determine what you’ll drive in the future, but how you’ll be driven.