WATonoBus - All Weather Waterloo Autonomous Shuttle Bus: A Testbed for Automated Divining and V2X Connectivity

WATonoBus - 全天候滑铁卢自主班车：自动占卜和 V2X 连接的测试平台

• 批准号: RTI-2021-00058
• 负责人: Khajepour, Amir
• 金额: $ 10.93万
• 依托单位: University of Waterloo
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Research Tools and Instruments
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2020-01-01 至 2021-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=718778
• 关键词: WATonoBus; Weather; Waterloo; Autonomous; Shuttle

In 2019, the Waterloo Mechatronic Vehicle Systems (MVS) Lab initiated the WATonoBus (https://uwaterloo.ca/watonobus/), Canada's first all-weather autonomous shuttle bus to safely drive autonomously in any weather condition on the UW's 2.7km Ring Road. WATonoBus is equipped with different sensors for perception and automated driving and, currently, four more shuttle buses are being instrumented to establish a fleet of five autonomous buses, a world-class testbed for autonomous urban driving research in Canada. Waterloo's Ring Road circles the UW campus, connecting our main buildings, parking lots, and bus and train stations. It has several intersections and crowded parts with pedestrians, cyclists, and vehicles representing a unique test environment for research on autonomous driving in urban city environments. In this application, we request funding to equip one kilometer of Ring Road with stand-alone infrastructure sensor nodes to advance higher vehicle autonomy (Level 4 and 5) in complex urban driving. The addition of these sensor nodes to our WATonoBus fleet will establish the largest connected autonomous shuttle bus research test platform in any university in the world. Each of the infrastructure sensor nodes proposed in this RTI application will include a Lidar, camera, edge computing unit, 5G communication module, and a solar-based power unit. The sensor units will be mounted to the existing light posts on the Ring Road to provide the information needed for the automated driving of the shuttle buses. This has become possible through the recent Rogers Communications and the University of Waterloo partnership to create a 5G wireless network-enabled smart campus. The addition of these sensor nodes to the Ring Road and their integration into the WATonoBus fleet will enable urgently needed breakthroughs in reliable cooperative navigation through V2X connectivity (vehicle to vehicle, vehicle to infrastructure, vehicle to cloud, etc.), advance level 4 and 5 autonomous driving, and cloud-based operation of autonomous fleet through 5G network. All are crucial to realizing automated driving in city cores and high vehicle autonomy, and the competitiveness of Canada's automotive industry.

2019 年，滑铁卢机电车辆系统 (MVS) 实验室推出了 WATonoBus (https://uwaterloo.ca/watonobus/)，这是加拿大第一辆全天候自动穿梭巴士，可在威斯康星大学 2.7 公里的环路上在任何天气条件下安全地自动驾驶。 WATonoBus 配备了不同的感知和自动驾驶传感器，目前，另外四辆班车正在安装仪器，以建立一个由五辆自动驾驶巴士组成的车队，这是加拿大自动城市驾驶研究的世界级测试平台。 滑铁卢环路环绕威斯康星大学校园，连接我们的主要建筑、停车场、公共汽车站和火车站。它有几个十字路口和拥挤的地方，有行人、骑自行车的人和车辆，为城市环境中的自动驾驶研究提供了独特的测试环境。 在此申请中，我们请求资金为一公里的环路配备独立的基础设施传感器节点，以在复杂的城市驾驶中提高车辆自主性（4 级和 5 级）。将这些传感器节点添加到我们的 WATonoBus 车队中，将建立世界上任何大学中最大的互联自动穿梭巴士研究测试平台。 该 RTI 应用中提出的每个基础设施传感器节点将包括激光雷达、摄像头、边缘计算单元、5G 通信模块和基于太阳能的电源单元。传感器单元将安装在环路上现有的灯柱上，以提供班车自动驾驶所需的信息。罗杰斯通信公司 (Rogers Communications) 与滑铁卢大学 (University of Waterloo) 最近合作创建了一个支持 5G 无线网络的智能校园，这已成为可能。 将这些传感器节点添加到环路并将其集成到 WATonoBus 车队中，将通过 V2X 连接（车辆到车辆、车辆到基础设施、车辆到云等）实现可靠的协作导航、先进的 4 级和 5 级自动驾驶以及通过 5G 网络实现自动车队的云运营方面迫切需要的突破。所有这些对于实现城市核心区的自动驾驶、车辆的高度自主化以及加拿大汽车工业的竞争力都至关重要。