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New Self-Driving Car Track Up and Running in Ottawa

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2019 INFINITI Q50

A future of self-driving cars is a big goal for several of the world’s car manufacturers. While many of them make it sound like you might able to drive a fully autonomous vehicle very soon, there is still a lot of testing to be done. The latest self-driving vehicle facility in Ottawa just opened last month in a bit to put new tech to the ultimate test of man vs. nature – Canadian winters.


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Some of the most popular places for self-driving cars to test includes Japan and warm-weather locales in the United States. Ottawa’s winter weather will put the technology to the ultimate test. Driving in hot weather, rain, and darkness presents its own set of challenges, but the deep cold has always been challenging for complex electronics, making components brittle and slow to operate. That’s before you even consider the possibility of snow and ice covering the road, making maneuvering difficult and traffic markings hard to see.

The complex in Ottawa is an L5 test facility, and its layout represents the city streets of Canada. This so-called public test track is nine kilometre long, and researchers equipped it with bike lanes, traffic signals, pedestrian walkways and other features common here. For simpler tests of any vehicle, a 16-kilometre private track is also an option.


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To attract self-driving car companies to the grounds, developers made sure it has its own 4G and 5G communication networks for the best connectivity with sensors on the car and on the road.

Realistically, a self-driving car is a long way off. If one does go on the market, you can know that it had the opportunity to test itself against Mother Nature and Canadian winters.

News Source: CTV News