Uber launches driverless-car research hub in Canada.
• As automakers and technology companies set their sights on bringing automated vehicles to the street, Uber has launched a research hub in Toronto — its first outside the United States — focused on the development of self-driving cars.
Uber chief executive officer Travis Kalanick announced in a blogpost Monday that University of Toronto professor and Canada Research Chair Raquel Urtasun would lead the company’s new branch of the Advanced Technology Group, which focuses on research and development of Uber’s self-driving technology.
The Advanced Technology Group also has offices in San Francisco and Pittsburgh.
Urtasun, a computer scientist who specializes in artificial intelligence and machine perception, said in an interview she decided to make the jump from academia to Uber in part because she wanted to make a greater impact in the area of self-driving cars.
“In academia, there is so much you can do and you actually need more resources to make a greater impact,” she said.
“Uber was also willing to make a commitment to Toronto, and that was really important for me as well. It was a clear winner over all the options.”
Urtasun’s research on self- driving cars will focus on developing technology in three areas — perception, localization and mapping — that allows self- driving cars to manoeuvre safely on the streets. Her next challenge, she says, is hiring a staff outside the graduate students already recruited to the Toronto team.
“By setting up shop at the MaRS Discovery District, we hope to draw from the region’s impressive talent pool as we grow, helping dozens of researchers we plan to hire stay connected to the Toronto-Waterloo corridor,” Kalanick wrote.
“With support from the Ontario and federal governments, Toronto has emerged as an important hub of artificial intelligence research, which is critical to the future of transportation.”
Uber also announced it will make a “significant multi-year financial commitment” to the Vector Institute for Artificial Intelligence, a non-profit affiliated with the University of Toronto that was co-founded by Urtasun.
Last January, the Ontario government created a pilot regulatory framework to test automated vehicles on the roads, in the hopes of attracting and spurring research development in the province. Eleven months later, the government announced its first automated vehicle pilot program, led by the University of Waterloo, the Erqun Hymer Group and Blackberry QNX.
While Uber has not applied to participate in the government’s pilot project, the Ontario Ministry of Transportation said in a statement it is pleased Uber has selected the province for this research.
“We look forward to working with them in the future and hearing more details regarding the developments and advancements this initiative will bring,” MTO spokesperson Bob Nichols said in a statement.
Waymo, Alphabet Inc.’s automated car project, is suing Uber for allegedly stealing self- driving car laser technology known as LiDAR that creates real-time 3D images of the world. In its lawsuit, Waymo alleges that Anthony Levandowski, a former manager at Waymo now leading the self- driving car effort at Uber, downloaded more than 14,000 confidential files before his resignation, including the designs for the LiDAR circuit board.