Future undergraduate students

If you’re driving along and you pass a car beside you with no-one inside driving, you just might be in Ontario.

The provincial government has changed the rules to allow testing of fully autonomous vehicles, without someone behind the wheel.  Testing of vehicles with no-one in the driver’s seat has been done on closed tracks, while some testing has been allowed on public roads but with someone in the driver’s seat just in case.

Real-world experience working on a Waterloo vehicle team helped an undergraduate student land a plum co-op job at Tesla.

Members of the company’s hiring committee were so impressed with Devon Copeland’s work with Waterloo’s Midnight Sun Solar Car that they asked him to make a presentation about his involvement with the team.

‘To our knowledge, nobody in the world is doing this,’ says researcher

WATERLOO, ONT. — A research project aimed at developing three-dimensional, high-definition mapping (3D HD) could give Ontario an edge in the race to develop autonomous vehicles.

The new technology would give self-driving cars functional capabilities to handle any type of weather, and would be marketed commercially without any proprietary rights.

Researchers at the University of Waterloo reached an important milestone this summer by logging their 100^th kilometre on public roads in a self-driving car.

Recorded in an industrial area of Waterloo, it was the culmination of almost two years of work since the research team won approval from the Ontario government to do on-road testing in an autonomous vehicle pilot program.

By Lauren Ward

Being a female in the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) field is one of the most difficult undertakings, with many barriers that women have to overcome to succeed. The Waterloo Centre for Automotive Research’s (WatCAR) own Stefanie Bruinsma had an amazing opportunity to share her experiences within the engineering industry on panel at The Everyday Wonder Woman: Panel Discussion and Movie Screening event hosted by University of Waterloo’s Women in Engineering on March 8^th, 2018 at the Princess Twin Cinemas in Uptown Waterloo.

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.

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.

The University of Waterloo is Canada’s most innovative university, according to a reputational survey from Maclean’s magazine.

Maclean’s annual ranking of Canadian universities, released today, also named Waterloo second for best overall, highest quality, and leaders of tomorrow out of the 49 universities surveyed.

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.