2018 Automotive News Canada All Stars

The University of Waterloo is a team of all stars, working on all things automotive.

Two of the biggest breakthroughs at the school include three-dimensional, high-definition mapping and a battery that could triple the range of electric vehicles. 

New mapping being developed would give autonomous vehicles functional capabilities to handle any type of weather, and would be mar- keted commercially without any pro- prietary rights. It could give Ontario an edge in the global competition to develop AVs. “To our knowledge, nobody in the world is doing this,” Ross McKenzie, managing director of the University of Waterloo Centre of Automotive Research, said. “If this unfolds as projected, it will be a catalyst for additional connected and autonomous-vehicle activity in the province.” 

Meanwhile, researchers discovered a new pro- cess that uses 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. The increased storage capacity could boost the distance EVs are able to travel on a single charge to 600 kilometres, up from the current 200 kilometres.