City offers residents chance to test out self-driving shuttle

Edmonton residents curious about new transportation technology have the chance to ride a self-driving shuttle right after the Thanksgiving weekend.

A small 12-person shuttle is coming to Edmonton for testing. City of Edmonton officials announced Thursday the shuttle will first run on a short track at the Blatchford site, the former City Centre Airport, from Oct. 9 to Oct. 16.

Taking a ride is free. People are invited to drop by or can even skip the lineup by signing up at edmonton.ca/ela.

During the pilot project, the EasyMile shuttle will run at only 12 km/h and be separated from traffic. The test is meant to understand how Edmonton residents respond to the technology and, if it snows, see how the technology operates in winter conditions.

“We’re really excited. It’s one of the first tests of its kind in Western Canada,” said Stephanie McCabe, city branch manager for corporate strategic development. The Western Pacific-sponsored shuttle was in Calgary last month where residents were lined up to take it to the Calgary Zoo on its first days of operation.

In Edmonton, the shuttle will run down 28 Avenue SW at Chappelle Gardens from Oct. 17 to Oct. 21. A route near the library in Old Strathcona will be operating from Oct. 22 through Nov 4.

A fourth public location is still being finalized.

The shuttle will also be tested on the University of Alberta’s connected vehicle test bed, a closed loop on the organization’s south campus, said McCabe. That will allow researchers to run tests looking at how the electric, automated vehicle can communicate with their roadside equipment. The connected-vehicle tests allow a central computer to better track where large concentrations of vehicles are in a system.

The researchers will also run tests on cyber security to understand system resilience, she said.

“The University of Alberta is leading that.”