Toronto, Ontario — The Toronto Region Board of Trade is recommending that Highway 407, an express toll route (ETR) in Ontario, be transformed into what it is calling “the AV Highway of the Americas,” a real-time testbed for vehicles equipped with autonomous technologies.
The Board released a report entitled ‘Getting Ready for Autonomy: AVs for Safe, Clean and Inclusive Mobility in the Toronto Region’ last week, which highlights why and how the Toronto region can speed up the deployment of AVs. The report examines the region’s existing strengths in autonomous vehicle development in Toronto and makes recommendations to ensure the region is prepared for the future and suggests turning Highway 407 into “the AV Highway of the Americas.”
“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,” reads the report.
It noted that making the highway a testbed for roadside infrastructure that is connected and communicating with AVs could give the Toronto region a significant advantage over competing cities for AV investment and jobs, especially as companies seek to test their technology in adverse weather conditions. Four seasons, topped off with Canada’s snowfall, make AV testing in Ontario attractive to researchers.
The report also notes that the 407 “is already a technological trailblazer as the world’s first electronically operated toll highway.” The roadway makes use of more than 1,000 cameras, which connect to an extensive fibre optic network. Monitored ’round 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,” says the report.
The 407 ETR crosses multiply municipalities across the GTA. According to the report, “the highway’s on and off-ramps can be a launching point for these municipalities to build their own AV test sites on complex urban streets.” It suggests the 407 becomes an artery for AV-enabled transit while connecting the proposed municipal hubs across the GTA.
The 407 is no stranger to autonomous technology testing—at the end of 2019, 3M installed ADAS-optimized marking tapes on 2.5 kilometres of the highway to focus on improving the roads autonomous vehicles are sensing. The tapes, which possess “a unique contrast between black and white,” aims to help improve lane definition and assist in bettering road conditions for autonomous and ADAS-enabled vehicles.
In November, Toronto also approved its Automated Vehicles Tactical Plan, which says the city will be fully prepared for the arrival of autonomous vehicles on public roads by 2022.
To read ‘Getting Ready for Autonomy: AVs for Safe, Clean and Inclusive Mobility in the Toronto Region,’ click here.
