News

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.

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.

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.

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  

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.

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.”

From Waterloo Engineering News.

A state-of-the-art automotive research and testing facility that was five years in the making officially opened at the University of Waterloo today with a twist on the old ship-christening tradition.

From Waterloo Stories.

Matt Rose figures he learned more in high school as a member of the prize-winning electric car team than he did in a lot of his academic classes.

From Waterloo News