The Toronto Region Board of Trade recommends that Highway 407, an Express Toll Route (ETR), be converted into what it calls the “AV Highway of the Americas,” a real-time testbed for autonomous vehicles.
The recommendation is the largest part of a report entitled Getting Ready for Autonomy: AVs for Safe, Clean and Inclusive Mobility in the Toronto Region.
“Designating the 407 ETR as an AV highway, with AV-ready infrastructure and eventually a dedicated AV-only lane, would put the Toronto region ahead of any other city in North America,” the report says. “Making the highway a testbed for roadside infrastructure that is connected and communicating with AVs, as well as for the use of AVs itself, will give the region a significant advantage over competitor jurisdictions for AV investment and jobs, especially as companies seek to test their technology in adverse weather conditions.”
Four seasons, complete with Canada’s snowfall, make AV testing in Ontario attractive to researchers.
The report notes that Highway 407 “is already a technological trailblazer as the world’s first electronically operated toll highway.”
It makes use of more than 1,000 cameras, which use of an extensive fibre optic network. Monitored around the clock by 407 ETR staff, and stretching across the region for 108 kilometres, “it is a regional asset ready for the testing and deployment of AVs unlike any other,” the report says.
Ross McKenzie, the managing director at the Waterloo Centre for Automotive Research, thinks the proposal is a good idea.
He called the plan “achievable and realistic.”
“It’s a very forward thinking document, but it’s not way out there,” he said.
He said some of the infrastructure needed for vehicle-to-infrastructure connectivity already exists along Highway 407. That includes cameras, power and fibre optic cable.
“You’re just building on the existing infrastructure,” McKenzie said. “You would need some different types o sensors and additional devices to provide connectivity that’s expected to be required by autonomous vehicles.”
Ontario already allows the use of autonomous vehicles on its public roads, so long as they — and their owners and drivers — follow certain rules.
Automated vehicles equipped with SAE Level 3 technology that are available for public purchase in Canada can be driven on Ontario roads. A human driver is required at all times to take back the driving task when alerted to do so by the vehicle.
Level 3 autonomy is defined by the provincial government as “conditional automation.”
“The vehicle becomes a co-pilot. The vehicle manages most safety-critical driving functions but the driver must be ready to take control of the vehicle at all times,” according to the Ministry of Transportation website.
In 2018, Uber announced a new engineering hub in Toronto — the company's eighth outside of the United States — and a $200-million expansion of its self-driving vehicle centre in the city.
Toronto has also seen seen testing from Intel, and General Motors, which plans to open a AV test track northeast of the city in Oshawa. Toronto has also been one of the key testing sites for Waymo since 2017.
The Toronto Region Board of Trade believes Highway 407 ETR, “could provide ideal testbeds to roll out [AV] technologies given they are environments with controlled entrances and more sensors than most other parts of the road network.”
The report notes that the toll road crosses multiple municipalities across the region and that the highway’s on-and-off ramps “can be the launching point for these municipalities to build out their own AV test sites on complex urban streets.”
The highway has 198 ramps and gantry systems, overheard structures on which cameras are already attached.
“AV-ready intersections can be installed around these ramps as the foundation for wider AV-designated zones. The 407 ETR can become an artery for AV-enabled transit across the region, and AV corridors can extend from the highway into municipal transit hubs to help provide additional connectivity to the region’s residents. By embracing the potential of AVs in freight, for example through truck platooning, the 407 ETR can also bring about new solutions for the movement of goods.”
Highway 407 ETR is 108-kilometres in length with 41 interchanges linking the highway to all major GTA highways. Total annual trips have increased from 71.9 million in 1999, to over 125 million in 2017, according to the highway’s website.
“Rolling out AV technology in public transit ahead of wider adoption is another potential avenue for the region to become an autonomous leader.”
While Highway 407 is a public road and part of Ontario’s 400 series of highways, it is operated by 407 International Inc., which is owned by Cintra Global Holding Limited, the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and SNC-Lavalin.
