Whitby, a township near Toronto, has launched a 6-kilometer (roughly 3.7 miles) AV shuttle route along its waterfront, making the route the longest in North America. Known as the Whitby Autonomous Vehicle Electric (WAVE), the pilot project has entered its testing phase, and will begin service with transit riders later this year…

The pilot represents the first of its kind in Canada to integrate an AV shuttle with an existing transit service and smart infrastructure, and will function as a learning opportunity to study the operational, financial and technical integration of autonomous and transit systems.

One area of study, said Austin, is to examine how effectively AVs can be used to extend transit service into areas with less housing and business density, which are not always suitable for large, fixed-route buses.
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