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Honda to test its Autonomous Work Vehicle at Toronto's Pearson Airport
Honda's electric cargo hauler, the Autonomous Work Vehicle (AWV), could soon find work at airports as the robotic EV trundles towards commercial operations.
Uber Eats now delivers cannabis in Canada
The company says it's the first time a major third-party platform has offered weed delivery anywhere.
Apple details 3D maps rollout plan for iOS 15
The 3D view is now available in London, NYC, San Francisco and LA, with more cities coming soon.
Toronto will test Olli driverless shuttles to boost its transit system
Toronto is exploring autonomous transit by testing Olli driverless shuttles in spring 2021.
Alphabet's Sidewalk Labs abandons its Toronto smart neighborhood project
Waterfront Toronto’s vote on the draft MIDP has been delayed several times.
Key vote on Alphabet's smart neighborhood delayed over coronavirus
Sidewalk Labs, the part of Alphabet focused on smart cities, will have to wait a while longer to find out whether its Quayside project can go ahead. Waterfront Toronto, a tri-government organization spearheading the city's lakeside overhaul, has pushed the deadline for a decisive vote to June 25th. "In view of the COVID-19 pandemic, today the Waterfront Toronto Board of Directors passed a motion to extend the date for a decision on moving forward with the Quayside project with Sidewalk Labs," it said in a tweet.
Toronto rejects some of Sidewalk Labs’ smart neighborhood ideas
Sidewalk Labs will have to cede a little more ground on its vision for Quayside, a planned smart neighborhood in Toronto. The company, which is owned by Google-parent Alphabet, published a draft version of its Master Innovation and Development Plan (MIDP) last June. The technical document, which spans four volumes and almost 1,000 pages, is packed with proposals for how the district should be designed, funded and governed. Waterfront Toronto, a tri-government organization spearheading the city's lakeside overhaul, has now completed a technical evaluation of the draft MIDP, which will help its board decide whether to approve the project or sever ties with Sidewalk Labs entirely.
Canada's first 5G network starts rolling out in four cities
Canadians won't have to look on with envy as Americans get 5G. Telecom giant Rogers has started rolling out the country's first 5G network in the downtown cores of four large cities (Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto and Vancouver). You'll have to wait until devices are available later in the year to use the network, but it'll be ready to go when that happens. It should reach more than 20 additional markets before 2020 is over.
Toronto is reining in Sidewalk Labs’ smart city dream
Sidewalk Labs, the part of Google-parent Alphabet that's focused on futuristic cities and urban development, has agreed to compromise on a proposed smart neighborhood in Toronto. Back in June, the company submitted a draft MIDP (Master Innovation and Development Plan) for Quayside, an ambitious redevelopment project overseen by Waterfront Toronto. The publicly-funded organization immediately found issues with some of Sidewalk's suggestions, though, that needed to be fixed before it could formally consult and evaluate the plan.
Sidewalk Labs finally publishes its smart city master plan
Better late than never. Sidewalk Labs, the part of Alphabet focused on cities and urban development, has unveiled its Master Innovation and Development Plan (MIDP) for a proposed smart neighborhood on Toronto's Eastern Waterfront. The MIDP is called a "draft," but it's the first official pitch document that sets out the company's vision for the area. It will be scrutinized by Waterfront Toronto, a publicly-funded organization, and ultimately, voted on by its board and the Toronto city council in late 2019 and early 2020. If it goes through, Sidewalk hopes to begin construction on the first part -- a site called Quayside -- before 2021. The company has shared morsels of its smart city vision before. These include the 200-page document that helped it secure the project -- that is, the right to develop the MIDP -- back in October 2017. Since then, Sidewalk Labs has been stuck in a research phase, consulting with experts and gathering public feedback. The team has shared some, but not all of its evolving ideas through a mixture of live events, blog posts, PDF presentations and podcasts. These snippets, it always emphasized, were exploratory and subject-to-change ahead of its all-important MIDP. The document, even in draft form, solidifies the company's thinking. It also gives Toronto residents their clearest picture yet of what a smart neighborhood spearheaded by Sidewalk Labs -- and by extension, Google -- might look like. Below, we've summarized the main features that will likely spark debate in the coming months.
Alphabet's smart neighborhood could have shape-shifting 'superblocks'
Too many cities are built around cars rather than people. Sidewalk Labs, an offshoot of Google's parent company Alphabet, wants its smart neighborhood in Toronto to be different. It's considering a so-called superblock concept, modeled after Barcelona's, that bundles smaller streets together and limits vehicles to the perimeter. The smaller lanes inside each superblock would then become safer, quieter spaces for pedestrians and cyclists. Sidewalk Labs wants to go a step further, though, with real-time traffic monitoring and movable street furniture. These would allow the company to create smart, dynamic superblocks that subtly change with the time of day and needs of its residents.
Canada is being sued over Sidewalk Labs' smart city project
The Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA) is suing three levels of government and Waterfront Toronto, a publicly-funded organization, over a planned smart neighborhood in Quayside. The suit claims that two legal agreements drawn up between Waterfront Toronto and Sidewalk Labs, an offshoot of Google's parent company Alphabet, violate the personal and collective privacy rights of Canadian citizens. "The Google-Waterfront Toronto deal is invalid and needs to be reset," Michael Bryant, Executive Director and General Counsel for the CCLA said during a press conference yesterday. "These agreements are contrary to administrative and constitutional law, and set a terrible precedent for the rest of this country."
Sidewalk Labs thinks a reinvented awning will fix Toronto's winter
Alphabet's Sidewalk Labs will showcase more ideas for its Toronto neighborhood this weekend as part of its plan to make outdoor public space enjoyable all-year round -- even in harsh Canadian winters. One of the prototypes is a hexagonal paving system. The slabs are porous and heated, which may keep snow and ice at bay without salting. They're easy to replace, and include LED lights that can, for instance, help direct traffic flow during construction or mark street closures.
Alphabet's Sidewalk Labs outlines how it'll make money from Toronto
For the last two years, Google's Sidewalk Labs has been working on a planned neighborhood on Toronto's waterfront. Now, thanks to internal documents obtained by the Toronto Star, the company's plans on how it will make money through the development have been revealed. Sidewalk Labs plans to take a portion of property taxes, development fees and siphon off tax revenue generated by increased property values in the region.
Sidewalk Labs reveals site plan for smart neighborhood in Toronto
Sidewalk Labs' smart neighborhood in Toronto is edging closer to becoming a reality after it revealed the initial draft plan for the site. It's proposing that Quayside should be focused around 12 mass-timber buildings, with a maximum height of 30 stories and a mix of residential, retail and commercial spaces in each.
Google’s smart city dream is turning into a privacy nightmare
Sidewalk Labs, an Alphabet division focused on smart cities, is caught in a battle over information privacy. The team has lost its lead expert and consultant, Ann Cavoukian, over a proposed data trust that would approve and manage the collection of information inside Quayside, a conceptual smart neighborhood in Toronto. Cavoukian, the former information and privacy commissioner for Ontario, disagrees with the current plan because it would give the trust power to approve data collection that isn't anonymized or "de-identified" at the source. "I had a really hard time with that," she told Engadget. "I just couldn't... I couldn't live with that."
Overwatch League adds teams from Toronto, Vancouver and Paris
Activision Blizzard has rounded out the Overwatch League ranks for the second season of Overwatch's top-level professional competition. The company confirmed that eight more teams will compete, including new additions Toronto and Vancouver (the first Canadian teams in the league), along with Paris, which is the second European squad after the 2018 champions London Spitfire. Teams from Washington, DC, and Chinese cities Chengdu and Hangzhou are also part of the 2019 lineup. They join the previously announced Atlanta and Guangzhou teams as the number of rosters rises to 20 this time around.
Sidewalk Labs unpacks its Quayside smart city dream
Sidewalk Labs still has a ways to go before it realizes its futuristic vision for Toronto's Eastern Waterfront, but we now know what the smart neighborhood could look like. The Alphabet-owned company has released (PDF) mock-ups and illustrations for the "Quayside," along with details that elaborate on its plans to build the community with lots and lots of wood. Sidewalk Labs plans to use tall timber construction, a method that uses engineered wood, for the buildings in the area.
LG's newest AI research lab will open in Toronto
LG is investing in another North American facility to ensure that it can compete with its staunchest rivals when it comes to artificial intelligence. The Korean conglomerate has announced that it's opening an AI research lab in Toronto, Canada, which will serve as an extension of its AI facility in Silicon Valley. According to Bloomberg, LG plans to open the new lab's doors sometime this fall, and it will employ several dozen people under its five-year, multi-million partnership with the University of Toronto.
Samsung opens second North American AI lab in Toronto
If it wasn't already apparent that Canada is becoming a major hub for AI research, it is now. Samsung has opened an AI Center (or Centre, for the Canadian crowd) in Toronto, and it's only the company's second big lab in North America -- the other is located near Google in Mountain View. The new location will help foster AI across a wide range of devices, ranging from self-driving cars to smart appliances.
