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

2019年，滑铁卢机电车辆系统实验室推出了WATonoBus(https://uwaterloo.ca/watonobus/)，加拿大第一辆全天候自动穿梭巴士)，可以在UW 2.7公里的环路上安全地在任何天气条件下自动驾驶。WATonoBus为感知和自动驾驶配备了不同的传感器，目前正在为另外四辆穿梭巴士配备仪器，以建立一支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试验台。 滑铁卢的环路环绕着威斯康星州大学校园，连接着我们的主要建筑、停车场以及公共汽车站和火车站。它有几个十字路口和拥挤的部分，行人、骑自行车的人和车辆代表着一个独特的测试环境，用于研究城市环境中的自动驾驶。 在这项申请中，我们申请资金为一公里的环路配备独立的基础设施传感器节点，以促进复杂的城市驾驶中更高的车辆自主性(4级和5级)。将这些传感器节点添加到我们的WATonoBus机队将建立世界上最大的联网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通信模块和太阳能发电单元。传感器单元将安装在环路上现有的灯柱上，为穿梭巴士的自动驾驶提供所需的信息。通过最近罗杰斯通信公司和滑铁卢大学的合作，这已经成为可能，以创建一个支持5G无线网络的智能校园。 将这些传感器节点添加到环路并整合到WATonoBus车队中，将使迫切需要的突破通过V2X连接(车辆对车辆、车辆对基础设施、车辆对云等)实现可靠的协同导航，推进4级和5级自动驾驶，以及通过5G网络实现自动车队的云操作。所有这些都对实现城市核心的自动驾驶和高度的车辆自主性以及加拿大汽车业的竞争力至关重要。

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.