The Ontario Centres of Excellence (OCE) have announced that they will provide funding to six Regional Technology Development Sites (RTDS) across the province as part of an Autonomous Vehicle Innovation Network (AVIN) project.
OCE, in partnership with the province of Ontario, will be responsible for administering an investment of $80 million in the project over a five-year timespan. The goal is to accelerate things like self-driving vehicle and innovative connected technologies, talent and capacity, and of course a reinforce Ontario’s position as a North American leader on the transformative auto technology, transportation systems and supporting infrastructure fronts.
“Innovative technologies push the envelope and that’s the goal of the AVIN — bridging state-of-the-art technology, advanced manufacturing, and talent to ensure Ontario’s small- and medium-sized enterprises fuel the evolution of automotive and smart mobility solutions while bringing improvements and efficiencies to Ontario’s transportation systems and the infrastructure that supports them,” said Dr. Tom Corr, President and CEO, OCE.
The new RTDS are expected to help and support small- and medium-sized businesses to develop, prototype, test and validate new technologies. They will also have access to specialized equipment and technical/business advice if needed.
Each RTDS will focus on a particular area of development. For example, the Durham region will focus on human machine interface (HMI) and user experience; Hamilton will work on multimodal and integrated mobility; the Ottawa region will take care of vehicular networks and communications; and Southwestern Ontario (London and Windsor) will focus on vehicle cybersecurity and cross-border technologies. The Toronto region will work on artificial intelligence for connected and driverless cars, and the Waterloo area gets high-definition (HD) mapping and localization.
The AVIN project will be funded by the Ministry of Research, Innovation and Science, the Ministry of Economic Development and Growth and the Ministry of Transportation, and each of the six regions will work with partners from these industries along with academia and government areas.
“Long-term success in the global economy requires leading in the disruptive technologies that are revolutionizing the way we live, work and travel,” said Steven Del Duca, Minister of Economic Development and Growth. “That’s what the Autonomous Vehicle Innovation Network does — it weaves together Ontario’s unique talents in automotive, high-tech and advanced manufacturing. The regional sites bring that collaboration to a new level as we zero-in on the specific technological advances the global mobility industry is looking for.”
