On March 28, Durham College (DC) participated in the Future of Transportation and Mobility Series: Self-Driving Cars & Increased Safety alongside Ontario Tech University, Spark Centre, and the Centre for Integrated Transportation and Mobility (CITM), a division of Innovation Factory in Hamilton, Ont.

Supported by the Autonomous Vehicle Innovation Network (AVIN), the one-day event allowed attendees to network with industry, entrepreneurs, government and academia while hearing from speakers who focused on the safety and mobility freedom and the importance of considering accessibility and inclusion in the realization of autonomous vehicles.

DC was pleased to have Ali Hirji, project manager of DC’s Hub for Applied Research in Artificial Intelligence for Business Solutions (the AI Hub) sit on the Smart City Panel to explore how digital infrastructure can impact public safety. During the panel, Ali and other industry panelists discussed the idea that smart cities should include rural communities and spoke about the need to contextualize digital infrastructure by thinking about compliance, security and other related issues.

Participants also had the opportunity to get up close and personal with the 2019 Hyundai Nexo, which was on site thanks to the strong relationship between Hyundai and DC’s Corporate Training Services, who manage, design and deliver multiple product training tours per year for Hyundai. The Nexo is one of only a handful of hydrogen-fueled autonomous vehicles available on the market and is equipped with an extensive sensor array consisting of both mass-produced and specific autonomous sensing devices, including front and rear LIDAR.

As a partner in AVIN’s Regional Technology Development Site (RTDS) located in the Durham Region, DC will continue to contribute to future events and projects by helping to support and enable small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to develop, prototype, test and validate new technologies, access specialized equipment, and obtain technical and business advice in developing transformative automotive technologies. DC’s current role focuses on the human machine interface (HMI) and user experience by providing technology companies access to faculty expertise, student talent and state-of-the-art research facilities, thus helping them develop autonomous vehicle capabilities in a safe and controlled environment.