The University of Waterloo’s all-weather, self-driving bus, the WATonoBus, has hit the road with official go-ahead from Ontario’s Ministry of Transportation.
Students, staff, faculty and visitors can enjoy the ride with a complimentary WATonobus shuttle service operating every Monday to Friday, from 9:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m.
Aaron Sherratt, WATonoBus technician, poses in front of the shuttle's Davis Hall stop.
Travelling a 2.7-km route around campus, the WATonoBus makes four stops along the university's Ring Road – Davis Centre, South Campus Hall (Seagram Drive), Needles Hall and B.C. Matthews Hall (Columbia Street) – and can carry up to ten passengers.
Simply track the shuttle’s location and schedule on the WATonoBus mobile app, wait at a designated stop for it to pull up curbside and jump on board.
WATonoBus was developed at the Mechatronic Vehicle Systems (MVS) Lab and is part of the province's Automated Vehicle Pilot Program, which allows driverless cars as long as a safety operator is on board.
Equipped with multiple cameras, Lidars, radars, GPS and an in-house-developed software system, it senses traffic, pedestrians and cyclists to drive autonomously on the busy campus Ring Road safely.
For more information, please visit the MVS Lab and the WATonoBus websites.
