Faculty

When the University’s senior leaders were looking for a service-related department to consider alternative energy vehicles, Central Stores answered the call and has added a hybrid service vehicle to its fleet.

This hybrid van will be used to transport Central Stores staff around both on and off campus, primarily using electric power. The van will support Central Stores’ services, including freight and mail pickup and delivery, bulk mailing, shipping, receiving, office/departmental moves, event setup, and other initiatives.

New research at the University of Waterloo could lead to the development of batteries that triple the range of electric vehicles.

The breakthrough involves the use of negative electrodes made of lithium metal, a material with the potential to dramatically increase battery storage capacity.

“This will mean cheap, safe, long-lasting batteries that give people much more range in their electric vehicles,” said Quanquan Pang, who led the research while he was a PhD candidate in chemistry at Waterloo.

Researchers from Waterloo Engineering shared the spotlight yesterday as Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne officially announced Stratford as the home of a testing zone for the development of self-driving vehicles.

Wynne spoke with Professor Krzysztof Czarnecki and eight student researchers who were on hand with two highly automated cars – the Autonomoose and a similar Lincoln MKZ sedan that is being developed with Renasas Electronics – to show off the technology.

Computer algorithms developed by engineering researchers at the University of Waterloo can accurately determine when drivers are texting or engaged in other distracting activities.

The system uses cameras and artificial intelligence (AI) to detect hand movements that deviate from normal driving behaviour and grades or classifies them in terms of possible safety threats.

Building an artificial brain that will one day replace human drivers is an incredibly complex technical challenge, say the researchers leading Waterloo’s autonomous vehicle project  

Steven Waslander looks forward to his drives becoming a lot easier.

“Driving on highways and in cities is dull, time-consuming, and can be very stressful,” says Waslander, director of the Waterloo Autonomous Vehicles Laboratory (WAVELab). “I would be just as happy gazing out the window while the car does the dirty work for me.”