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KNBA to test new self-driving shuttle in Kanata North tech park

December 9, 2024

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The Kanata North Business Association will receive more than $1.4 million in federal cash to test a new self-driving shuttle in Canada’s largest tech park. The latest funding comes as the area that has long been dominated by office towers is poised to be transformed into a mixed-use neighbourhood. Transport Minister Anita Anand and Kanata-Carleton MP Jenna Sudds announced the funding Monday morning at the KNBA’s office in Kanata North. It’s part of a total package of $14.6 million for 35 projects across the country under the federal government’s Enhanced Road Safety Transfer Payment Program. What’s being billed as the testing and deployment of a “medium-speed autonomous shuttle” marks another step forward in Kanata North’s ongoing campaign to become a leader in AV technology. KNBA Kelly Daize executive director Kelly Daize said initial tests will take place in a “private, secure site” at Area X.O, a 1,866-acre R&D facility on Woodroffe Avenue operated by Invest Ottawa that includes a 16-kilometre AV test track. Testing will then transition to public roads in the Kanata North tech park, which has been designated a “special economic district” under the city’s new official plan. The designation has sparked a series of development proposals – including Nokia’s ambitious plan to build a new R&D campus on March Road near Terry Fox Drive – that are expected to add thousands of jobs and new residential units to the tech park over the next 10-15 years. Proponents of new development in the tech park say innovative transportation solutions such as autonomous vehicles could help fuel the neighbourhood’s growth. Daize said the new AV shuttle project will eventually pave the way for higher-speed automated commercial vehicles to serve the tech park. “The year-round trial will cover all four seasons and explore sustainable and accessible transportation solutions,” she said in a statement. Sudds said the “zero-emission” shuttle will also showcase made-in-Ottawa products. “This project not only uses homegrown technology to connect our community but will help shape the rules for safe autonomous vehicles across the country,” she added in a statement. The announcement comes more than three years after the KNBA said it was exploring a multimillion-dollar pilot project that would see autonomous buses run along March Road and Highway 417 as well as an AV shuttle service to ferry workers around the tech park. During a presentation to the city’s transportation committee in July 2021, the organization said it was looking for public- and private-sector funding partners for the project, which carried an estimated price tag of nearly $35 million. The latest federal funding will now allow the KNBA to follow up previous tests of lower-speed self-driving vehicles. In 2017, the Kanata North tech park hosted Canada’s first test of a driverless car on public roads when a grey Lincoln powered by BlackBerry QNX technology took a spin down a stretch of Legget Drive between Herzberg and Farrar roads. Two years later, workers from dozens of companies in the tech park took a spin through the Marshes Golf Club in a pair of autonomous pods developed by U.K.-based Aurrigo. Veronica Farmer, then the KNBA’s director of operations, told Techopia the pilot project was aimed at testing technology that could set the stage for more widespread adoption of AVs. Meanwhile, several other Ottawa organizations also received federal funding Monday for road safety programs. Invest Ottawa will receive nearly $1.7 million for initiatives to enhance road safety “using advanced driver assistance systems, in-cabin sensing technologies, and vehicle-to-vehicle communications to deliver real-time actional safety messages,” Transport Canada said on its website. Carleton University will receive about $748,000 for a project aimed at “connecting drivers with advanced driver assistance system to optimize safety in SAE Level 3 Autonomous Vehicles,” the ministry said. In addition, Nepean-based startup Smats Traffic Solutions, which makes smart sensors that track traffic flows, is getting about $312,000 from the ministry.