Electric Cars

�鶹��Ƶ Engineering to launch new certificate in electric vehicle design

Christopher.Sorensen — Mon, 29 Apr 2024 13:22:03 +0000

�鶹��Ƶ Engineering to launch new certificate in electric vehicle design

Christopher.Sorensen Mon, 04/29/2024 - 09:22

Cutline

(photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Safa Jinje

Topic

Our Community

Academics

Electric Cars

Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering

Sustainability

The University of Toronto’s Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering will launch a new electric vehicle design certificate for undergraduate students this fall.

The program aims to prepare the next generation of electric vehicle (EV) engineers for professional and research opportunities in the growing industry.

“EVs have tremendous potential to improve local and global climates, which fits right in with our faculty’s broader goals of sustainability and environmental considerations,” says Professor Dionne Aleman, the faculty’s associate dean of cross-disciplinary programs.

“From battery design to sustainability to infrastructure, engineering is a big part of advancing EV technology. We want engineering students to be able to hit the ground running in this exciting and growing field if they want careers in electrification.”

The widespread adoption of EVs has come into greater focus as governments across the globe develop new policies to achieve net-zero emissions goals by 2050. In Canada, the federal government has set a zero-emissions vehicle sales target by 2035, which will require all new cars, trucks and SUVs to be battery operated.

To meet this demand, the EV industry will require a workforce that can advance all facets of electrification technology, from vehicle design and charging technologies, to battery capacity and thermal management of power systems. This work is multidisciplinary, spanning mechanical, electrical, chemical, industrial, computer and materials science engineering.

While many �鶹��Ƶ Engineering courses include aspects of EV design, the faculty has delved deeper into EV-focused topics in the past year with two graduate-level courses in electric vehicle systems and thermal science.

The new certificate will expand on these offerings to provide eligible undergraduate students with an understanding of the technical and environmental implications of engineering in EV design. It includes a new course, APS380: Introduction to Electric Vehicle Design.

“The EV Design certificate is the beginning of a start-to-finish investigation into both the design of EVs and their integration into society,” says Matthew Mackay, an associate professor, teaching stream, in the department of mechanical and industrial engineering, who worked with Olivier Trescases, a professor in the Edward S. Rogers Sr. department of electrical and computer engineering (ECE), to design the introductory course.

“Since EVs are inherently multidisciplinary, having students first encounter this content through the certificate and a multidisciplinary design course will expose them to the challenges and knowledge they would not otherwise see through a single-program outlook.”

The APS380 course is a broad-based introduction to EV design, which makes the technical content accessible to students across engineering programs.

“This certificate is part of a multi-year effort to bring EV teaching to our departments. It will take some time for us to grow the capacity of this effort as new lab spaces, lecturers and courses are brought in,” says Mackay.

“But we want this to be an inclusive experience for students. If someone is interested but doesn’t have the required experience, we hope that they can come to see us anyway – there may always be opportunity to join.”

Trescases says there is a growing demand for engineers with specialized EV skills in Ontario.

“In ECE we’ve been teaching core EV topics like electric motors and power electronics to undergraduates for a long time, in courses like ECE314, ECE463 and ECE520. This new multi-disciplinary course takes a more ‘systems/application’ perspective and I think that it will be a great complementary offering for our students,” he says.

“In developing the labs and the course content for APS380 we leveraged elements of our research at [the �鶹��Ƶ Electric Vehicle Research Centre, or UTEV], our new EV graduate course, as well as the new Porsche EV microcredential that we offer to industry through the School of Continuing Studies.”

�鶹��Ƶ grads aim to electrify - and simplify - the package delivery business

Christopher.Sorensen — Wed, 20 Mar 2024 17:33:25 +0000

�鶹��Ƶ grads aim to electrify - and simplify - the package delivery business

Christopher.Sorensen Wed, 03/20/2024 - 13:33

Cutline

GoBolt co-founder Mark Ang, who graduated from Rotman Commerce in 2017, says he and co-founder Heindrik Bernabe, an alum of �鶹��Ƶ Engineering, “wanted to be change-makers in an antiquated industry” (photo by Kemeisha McDonald)

Topic

Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering

Faculty of Arts & Science

Subheadline

GoBolt got its start as a storage solution for students living in residence, but co-founders Mark Ang and Heindrik Bernabe switched gears after deciding they wanted to have a positive impact on the planet

What started as a side hustle for University of Toronto graduate Mark Ang has since evolved into a multi-million-dollar third-party logistics company – one that aims to have a positive impact on the planet by using electric vehicles for package deliveries.

Ang’s startup GoBolt has raised more than US$160 million from investors to support expansion of its fulfillment, last-mile delivery and returns management services to major urban areas across Canada and the United States.

It’s also using the funding to increase the percentage of electric vehicles (EVs) it has on the road.

“I always tell the team, ‘We need to be fiercely competitive to win enough volume to have an environmental impact,’” says Ang, who earned his bachelor of commerce degree from �鶹��Ƶ in 2017 as a member of Trinity College.

GoBolt estimates that its approach currently prevents 20 tonnes of CO2 emissions each month, a number that increases as it adds more EVs to its fleet. The company also invests in tree planting and other restorative projects to sequester the emissions GoBolt does produce, with the goal of being carbon neutral by the end of 2023.

“What we do today is a great start, and it is a beacon for people, but it's not nearly enough to make a difference globally,” says Ang. “We're fiercely competitive in making this business a multi-billion-dollar global enterprise – and then we can start to effect real change.”

GoBolt Co-Founders Mark Ang and Heindrik Bernabe with one of their electric delivery vehicles (photo by Kemeisha McDonald)

The story of GoBolt began when Ang was a �鶹��Ƶ undergraduate student in Rotman Commerce. He founded Second Closet, a storage service aimed at international students who needed to clear out their dorm rooms for the summer. Ang’s team rented trucks and scurried around campus to collect hundreds of boxes and random items. It was a lot of driving, a lot of parking tickets and a lot of stairs.

By offering a convenient service for a fraction of its competitors’ prices and an effective, flyer-based direct marketing campaign, the venture soon experienced rapid growth. Within two weeks, Second Closet was making $20,000 a month – pushing its resources to the limit.

“Every year got progressively crazier,” says Ang. “We had a dozen five-tonne trucks around �鶹��Ƶ every day in April and September. We would do thousands of pickups. It was just bananas.”

They needed help and they needed it fast.

Enter Michael Hyatt of the Creative Destruction Lab, a seed-stage accelerator that was founded at the Rotman School of Management.

The angel investor raised US$500,000 for Second Closet in a single day.

“In the realm of exceptional founders, Mark stands out as an evangelist who possesses the acumen to drive the business forward,” says Hyatt, entrepreneur and CDL founding partner who sits on GoBolt’s board of directors.

“Mark's intelligence and adeptness at building relationships were readily apparent. His ability to hustle and propel the business forward was instrumental in leveraging the connections within CDL.”

Hyatt also connected Ang with �鶹��Ƶ engineering student Heindrik Bernabe, who went on to become a GoBolt programmer, co-founder and CTO.

The business thrived but Ang and Bernabe still weren't satisfied.

“I didn't want our legacy to be that we help people hoard their stuff more efficiently,” says Ang.

Ang and Bernabe wanted to make a difference in the world, and so, with their fleet of trucks from Second Closet, they pivoted to logistics and shipping with GoBolt. At the time, using EVs commercially was a novel idea, but the newly formed GoBolt already had relationships with EV makers in Ontario and Quebec, as well as goods producers who cared about the fate of freight and addressing climate change.

“We wanted to be a 21st-century business for 21st-century brands, shoppers and merchants,” says Ang, whose clients include Endy mattresses and Frank And Oak apparel.

“We wanted to be change-makers in an antiquated industry.”

GoBolt’s made-in-Canada electric delivery vehicles can travel up to 400 kilometres on a single charge, depending on the payload and the EV battery’s natural enemy – freezing weather. But range is just a minor speed bump as technology improves and GoBolt adds service hubs and charging stations on its busiest routes.

“We're excited about what we're doing,” says Ang. “We don't feel super altruistic about it – we just know it's the right thing to do.”

EV systems course prepares �鶹��Ƶ students for fast-growing field

Christopher.Sorensen — Thu, 25 Jan 2024 19:29:15 +0000

EV systems course prepares �鶹��Ƶ students for fast-growing field

Christopher.Sorensen Thu, 01/25/2024 - 14:29

Cutline

Sessional lecturer Zhe Gong looks over the components that make up the electric vehicle lab station in the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering’s Energy Systems Lab (photo by Matthew Tierney)

Matthew Tierney

Topic

Our Community

Electric Cars

Electrical & Computer Engineering

Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering

Sustainability

Subheadline

“Our objective is to prepare our students to be innovation leaders to meet society’s needs”

The University of Toronto is offering a graduate course in electric vehicle systems that combines a theoretical background in power and energy flow with hands-on experience.

As demand grows for automotive engineers in the fast-growing electrification field, the multidisciplinary course –offered through the Edward S. Rogers Sr. department of electrical and computer engineering in the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering – aims to give graduate students a solid understanding of the concepts needed to design high-performance EV systems. It also discusses EV subsystems, with a focus on energy modelling and efficiency.

The new course, launched in fall 2023, comes amid efforts to build Stellantis-LGES and Volkswagen battery plants in Ontario, creating the need for more engineers with EV technology skills.

“The grad course was a pilot to explore how a hands-on EV course could fit into our curriculum,” says alumnus Zhe Gong, the course’s sessional lecturer.

“We’re making sure that we understand the hardware requirements, that we can frame a meaningful scope of experiments and that students can experience sufficient hands-on time through the lab sessions.”

The number of EV models available on the market doubled from 2018 to 2022 to a total of 500, according to the International Energy Agency. And the number of zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs) on the road is slated to increase dramatically in the next decade. Within Canada, this will be spurred in part by the federal government’s emissions reduction plan, which would require ZEVs to comprise all light-duty vehicles sales by 2035.

“Our objective is to prepare our students to be innovation leaders to meet society’s needs,” says Professor Deepa Kundur, chair of the electrical and computer engineering department. “This is especially the case when it comes to sustainability, and a new course offering in electric vehicles helps build a robust talent pipeline to provide the electrification industry with people ready to make a difference.”

Gong says that the lab setup, situated in the department’s undergraduate Energy Systems Lab, took six months to develop and incorporated research from the University of Toronto Electric Vehicle (UTEV) Research Centre into the hardware and software requirements. The setup includes a dynamometer that simulates how the road applies loading force to the vehicle propulsion system, a lithium-ion battery, hardware switches to selectively connect the battery to motor and charger – and a power supply to act as the on-board charger.

EV working components are arranged on lab tables to provide full access, “as if a bench-top electric vehicle,” says Gong.

“We also have something that’s quite unique for an EV lab – EV supply equipment, something you would actually see in a home. We customized the connection between our charger and power distribution panel to allow students to step through the communications interface required for the vehicle to engage the charging sequence.”

Components in the EV experimental lab setup (photo by Zhe Gong)

“Over the years, a lot of the equipment in the Energy Systems Lab has been designed by profs, research associates, grads, as well as undergrad students,” says Afshin Poraria, director of teaching labs, in reference to the collaborative approach between faculty members, UTEV and undergrad lab managers in creating the lab setup.

“We build whatever we can to feed and expand the student experience. Before long, we’ll likely have undergrad students using this equipment.”

UTEV Director Olivier Trescases, a professor of electrical and computer engineering, says that the “all-hands-on-deck” approach and the creative solutions to equipping the labs are necessary to provide the best possible learning environment for students.

“Over the past few decades, ECE has made major investments to design and deploy custom infrastructure to deliver a unique training experience that is simply not possible with off-the-shelf equipment.”

With three degrees from �鶹��Ƶ Engineering, Gong says he’s happy to play a role in the course.

“Through my undergrad days to now, I’ve always known ECE’s labs to be collaborative ones. It’s very exciting for me to be contributing to a new stage, building custom equipment and now teaching the students about electric vehicles – something that I’m passionate about,“ he says. “It’s like coming full circle.”

This made-in-Ontario collaboration is creating next-generation parts for electric vehicles

lanthierj — Mon, 19 Dec 2022 21:48:50 +0000

This made-in-Ontario collaboration is creating next-generation parts for electric vehicles

lanthierj Mon, 12/19/2022 - 16:48

Cutline

Ontario Energy Minister Todd Smith (second from left) examines a prototype electric vehicle as Professor Olivier Trescases (second from right) and Geoffrey Ryeland (far right) look on (Photo by Aaron Demeter)

Topic

Electrical & Computer Engineering

Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering

Research & Innovation

Sustainability

A partnership between Professor Olivier Trescases of the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering and Ontario-based Litens Automotive Group is unlocking new levels of performance for electric vehicles (EVs) by developing advanced battery systems and technologies.

The partnership is supported in part by funding from the Ontario Centre of Innovation, which connects researchers and industry partners to commercialize the next generation of made-in-Ontario solutions. Ontario Minister of Energy Todd Smith visited the lab in early October.

“Our government’s Driving Prosperity strategy has positioned Ontario’s automotive sector as a North American leader in developing and building the car of the future,” said Smith.

“We’re continuing to transform and grow the auto sector by capitalizing on our many advantages, including our best-in-class research, our talented workforce, as well as innovative partnerships between universities and industry. �鶹��Ƶ’s collaboration with Litens is a great example of how expertise from our world-class universities is helping to ensure that our auto sector is successful, competitive and ready to meet shifting global demand.”

As the market for EVs becomes increasingly competitive, automotive companies are shifting the focus of their research and development accordingly. Partnerships with academic research labs can help them hit the ground running.

By 2019, Litens had made the decision to transition all their new product engineering groups into the EV space. Late that fall, some of their leading designers came for a tour of the University of Toronto Electric Vehicle (UTEV) Research Centre, where Trescases serves as director.

UTEV brings together a core of multi-disciplinary researchers with wide-ranging expertise in EV technologies. Companies collaborating with UTEV gain access to leading-edge research while providing commercial resources and industry expertise that tie the research to the real world.

“It seemed like a really natural partnership,” says Geoffrey Ryeland, director, electromotive engineering at Litens.

The first order of business was to create a test vehicle in which new components and systems could be validated. The team opted for a pickup truck – an off-the-shelf Ford Ranger that they converted into an EV by hand – as it provided the largest amount of space for the electric motor and battery components.

Trescases’ team on the project included recent graduate Zhe Gong, PhD candidate Seyed Amir Assadi, and research associate Nick Cusimano.

Both Gong and Cusimano had been part of the Blue Sky Solar Racing team, which inspired them to delve deeper into the world of electric vehicles. They had also completed their final-year capstone projects under the supervision of Trescases, getting to know his research team and their work under UTEV. For his part, Assadi had done his capstone project with the University of Toronto Formula Racing team, later joining UTEV to build on his passion for performance vehicles.

“Professor Trescases was my capstone supervisor, so I knew I would enjoy working with all the smart people in his lab,” says Cusimano, who is now a senior electrical designer at Litens. “I designed a lot of software and hardware for their prototype electronics system in the truck, especially in the battery management system.”

The battery management system (BMS) is made of hardware, such as microchips, sensors and controllers, as well as software. Together, they control how power is being drawn from across the 4,400 individual lithium-ion cells that make up the battery pack. Ryeland says that innovation in this system has great potential to improve overall performance.

“Lithium-ion cells are great, but they require some care: they like to be at the same temperatures that humans like to be at, and they have to operate within certain voltage ranges to avoid any safety concerns,” says Ryeland.

“In order to keep the cells healthy, designers tend to play it very safe, and as a result, the battery management systems are very conservative. That’s fine, but the practical effect is that you end up with more battery capacity in the vehicle than you really need, which makes the vehicle heavier and more expensive.”

Using EV batteries to their limits while keeping them healthy requires accurate models of their thermal and electrical behaviour. The �鶹��Ƶ-designed BMS incorporates an advanced measurement system that can automatically generate these models through a procedure called electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS).

Backed by theoretical and experimental work by Gong, Assadi and Cusimano, the EIS-powered BMS will act as a test bed for new ways of operating the battery pack.

“EV technology is still at its relative infancy,” says Trescases. “If you think about how far traditional internal-combustion cars have come since the '60s and '70s, you can imagine the scale of improvements that EVs are poised to achieve in terms of driving range, energy efficiency, sustainability and safety, not to mention emerging aspects such as bi-directional power (vehicle-to-grid integration) and wireless charging.”

“That’s what makes it an exciting time to be working in this area – there is so much innovation ahead of us, so it’s very rewarding to work with industry partners within the Ontario automotive ecosystem, nurturing the local talent in electrical engineering that is in high demand.”

Academic-industry partnerships will be a key driver of that innovation, as well as providing a path for both ideas and highly trained personnel to find their way into industry.

“Something like this battery management system would have taken us years to do on our own. It was the expertise in Professor Trescases' lab that got us up that learning curve faster,” says Ryeland.

“We’ve got a lot of really great ideas — what we’re doing with this partnership is connecting with the best people who can execute on them and drive that future forward with us.”

‘Future-proofing Ontario’s economy’: �鶹��Ƶ researchers to showcase advanced manufacturing innovations

Christopher.Sorensen — Fri, 24 May 2019 18:04:27 +0000

‘Future-proofing Ontario’s economy’: �鶹��Ƶ researchers to showcase advanced manufacturing innovations

Christopher.Sorensen Fri, 05/24/2019 - 14:04

Cutline

Olivier Trescases, the director of the �鶹��Ƶ Electric Vehicle Research Centre, says one of �鶹��Ƶ's core strengths is its ability to bring together researchers from different disciplines to work on major projects (photo by Johnny Guatto)

Topic

Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering

Faculty of Forestry

Research & Innovation

Sustainability

From auto parts made of bio-foams to green chemicals and more efficient battery systems for electric vehicles, University of Toronto researchers are leading the way in devising new manufacturing technologies that could revolutionize any number of Ontario industries.

One of those researchers is Ning Yan, a professor in �鶹��Ƶ’s Faculty of Forestry and the department of chemical engineering and applied chemistry. Her team has been working with an automotive startup to develop bio-foams that could potentially replace plastic components in the automotive parts industry – a sector that’s long been vital to Ontario’s economy.

On May 28, Yan and other researchers will have the opportunity to discuss their work with provincial legislators as part of a public policy discussion at Queen’s Park. The event, hosted by the Council of Ontario Universities, will focus on how universities are working with employers to keep Ontario’s advanced manufacturing sector competitive.

“Advanced manufacturing is crucial to future-proofing Ontario’s economy and ensuring that our province remains ahead of the curve when it comes to implementing innovative technologies and processes and creating new jobs,” said Vivek Goel, �鶹��Ƶ’s vice-president of research and innovation.

“�鶹��Ƶ’s world-class research in various facets of advanced technologies has a key role to play, and dialogue between our experts and policy-makers is crucial to ensuring that Ontario’s advanced manufacturing sector thrives now and in the future.”

The Ontario manufacturing sector accounts for 18 per cent of the province’s economy, generating $270 billion in annual sales, and employs over 12 per cent of its workforce. In 2018, the federal government named advanced manufacturing in Ontario one of five innovation superclusters – collections of companies, research institutions and innovation partners – as part of a strategy to invest in industries where Canada has an opportunity to be a world leader.

Yan, who specializes in developing green chemicals, bio-based composites and other products from renewable forestry resources, plans to show off product samples at the Queen’s Park event.

“We’ll bring some bio-adhesives and bio-resins which were synthetized using materials from forest residue and biomolecules from forests,” she said, adding that she wants to demonstrate that making green products is possible through advanced manufacturing in Ontario – and that undertaking a more sustainable approach can play a role in reducing carbon footprints.

“We can make products which can replace plastics and chemicals to be more sustainable.”

Yan will be joined at the event by PhD student Nicole Tratnik, who joined Yan’s group in 2016. Tratnik will present a cornstarch-based adhesive she developed with Ontario-based agricultural feed – one that is formaldehyde-free and fire-resistant. Tratnik’s products could be adapted to manufacturing operations in forestry, construction and building products, according to Yan.

Elsewhere at �鶹��Ƶ, researchers are working closely with partners in the auto sector to develop technologies that are driving a shift towards environmentally friendly electric vehicles (EVs).

“Today, EVs are very conservative because there isn’t really a lot of intelligence in how their battery systems are used,” said Olivier Trescases, the director of the �鶹��Ƶ Electric Vehicle Research Centre (UTEV) and professor in the Edward S. Rogers Sr. department of electrical and computer engineering.

“If you can improve that, you can really push the limits and get more range and better lifetime. So we’re embedding better electronics and mechanical design to get better performance from the EVs.”

One of the projects involves developing sub-systems for the world’s first all-electric pickup truck, the Bison – made by Toronto-based startup Havelaar Canada, UTEV’s founding industry partner.

Havelaar is consulting with UTEV on technology with the intention of becoming the centre’s commercialization partner – although Trescases said several other companies have since entered the fray to leverage UTEV’s expertise.

Another project involves designing battery systems for the A2B electric car, manufactured by Toronto Electric. Trescases describes the car as a “moving lab” that is used to test new technologies and platforms.

Trescases’s own area of focus is in power electronics – he holds a Canada Research Chair in Power Electronic Converters – but he said the advancements being made at UTEV wouldn’t be possible if it weren’t for the diverse range of expertise found at the centre.

“We’re combining electrical engineering, computer, mechanical, aerospace and robotics engineering,” he said. “One of the strengths of �鶹��Ƶ is the ability to do multidisciplinary work. Instead of having lots of different researchers working in silos, we’re bringing them together and doing larger-scale projects that wouldn’t otherwise be possible.”

Trescases added that the technological and manufacturing breakthroughs that can be forged through such large-scale projects promise to make a huge contribution to the Ontario labour market.

“Through UTEV, we can train a new generation of engineers who can go out and contribute to this technology revolution,” he said.

“In terms of job creation, it’s a huge opportunity because there’s a massive shift happening and hopefully Canada can capitalize on it.”

With a file from Perry King

Up to the challenge – �鶹��Ƶ engineering team one of eight selected to develop self-driving electric cars

ullahnor — Wed, 05 Apr 2017 20:51:43 +0000

Up to the challenge – �鶹��Ƶ engineering team one of eight selected to develop self-driving electric cars

ullahnor Wed, 04/05/2017 - 16:51

Cutline

This car has been fitted with sensors, software and other components that enable it to be partly autonomous. A new student design team will create a fully self-driving car for an international competition (photo by Tim Barfoot)

Tyler Irving

Author legacy

Tyler Irving

Topic

Breaking Research

Self-Driving Cars

Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering

Electric Cars

Students

Subheadline

�鶹��Ƶ is one of eight universities from across North America chosen to compete in the AutoDrive Challenge, sponsored by GM and SAE International

A student team from �鶹��Ƶ's Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering will spend the next year retrofitting a Chevrolet Bolt with visual sensors, robotic components and software that enable it to drive itself.

The team is one of eight from institutions across North America selected today to compete in the first-ever AutoDrive Challenge™. Sponsored jointly by General Motors (GM) and SAE International, the intercollegiate competition has students turning an electric vehicle into a fully self-driving one.

Professor Tim Barfoot of U of T's Institute for Aerospace Studies (UTIAS), who has worked on visual navigation in robots for nearly two decades, will serve as the team’s primary faculty adviser.

“In my lab, we already have robots that can drive themselves in off-road conditions,” says Barfoot. “But once you put a passenger in the vehicle, and you put it on a road with moving obstacles on it, you’re dealing with a different set of challenges.”

Barfoot and Angela Schoellig, an assistant professor at UTIAS and the team’s deputy adviser, were both in Detroit today for the official announcement of the selected teams, which includes Kettering University, Michigan State University, Michigan Tech, North Carolina A&T University, Texas A&M University, Virginia Tech and the University of Waterloo.

“SAE International is excited to expand our partnership with GM to build the future STEM workforce through the AutoDrive Challenge,” says Chris Ciuca, director of pre-professional programs at SAE International. “Building on our success through programs like Formula SAE, the AutoDrive Challenge launches a new platform to engage industry and academia in working towards a common goal of preparing the brightest young minds for the future of autonomous technologies.”

“Congratulations to the Universities of Toronto and Waterloo on this wonderful achievement,” says Brain Tossan, director of the Canadian Technical Centre for GM Canada. “We are very excited to work closely with you over the next three years.”

The complete AutoDrive Challenge™ will last three years, and teams will meet each spring at annual competitions based around specific milestones. The first challenge, which involves driving autonomously down a straight road with no obstacles, is set to take place in the spring of 2018.

The vehicle itself will be donated by General Motors, and students will need to modify it to incorporate a complete set of sensors and write the software to control it. Barfoot believes they are ready for the challenge.

“We know that our undergraduate students, especially those specializing in robotics, are eager for more hands-on experiences,” he says. “I can’t think of a better opportunity than this.”

Approximately 100 students will be needed to fill the various roles on the team, including calibrating the sensors, designing the software algorithms and testing to ensure safety compliance. The team will receive expert guidance not only from Barfoot and Schoellig, but also from nearly a dozen other researchers at �鶹��Ƶ Engineering and in the department of computer science who specialize in robotics, machine learning and artificial intelligence.

Support for the new team’s establishment comes from the �鶹��Ƶ Engineering Dean’s Strategic Fund. The vehicle’s systems will be built in Barfoot’s lab at UTIAS, which is in the process of being renovated into a state-of-the-art facility for his group’s research and will soon house two self-driving vehicles.

“We have an advantage in that our brand-new facility backs onto a private road,” he says. “We can do a lot of testing just by opening the garage door.”

Barfoot has seen first-hand the demand for engineers with experience in designing autonomous vehicles: about half of his former graduate students are employed in self-driving car groups around the world, including at Apple, Nissan and Oxbotica.

“GM recently opened a new technology centre in Markham, north of Toronto, and has pledged to hire 1,000 engineers in the connected and autonomous vehicles space over the next ten years,” says Barfoot. “A project like this will go a long way toward creating a pipeline of people to fill those kinds of jobs.”

Electric Cars

�鶹��Ƶ Engineering to launch new certificate in electric vehicle design

�鶹��Ƶ grads aim to electrify - and simplify - the package delivery business

EV systems course prepares �鶹��Ƶ students for fast-growing field

This made-in-Ontario collaboration is creating next-generation parts for electric vehicles

‘Future-proofing Ontario’s economy’: �鶹��Ƶ researchers to showcase advanced manufacturing innovations

Up to the challenge – �鶹��Ƶ engineering team one of eight selected to develop self-driving electric cars

Learn more about the team and how to join