The first autonomous border crossing is set to take place in the next few months. Auto manufacturer Continental and vehicle supplier Magna plan to send two self-driving vehicles from southeastern Michigan to Sarnia, Ontario, according to Engadget.
Parts of the route will be handled by human drivers, but the team hope most of it to be autonomous. The switch from U.S. to Canadian road signs, speed limits, and driving peculiarities will be a difficult transition for a self-driving vehicle, which normally drives in the same city for months.
See Also: Waymo’s driverless cars spend day with emergency vehicles
Continental said it will use a mixture of Lidar, radar, and cameras for the self-driving system, similar to what most automakers and tech firms use in regular tests. It did not mention which brand of car it would use for the test, although it is part of the BMW self-driving consortium.
The Michigan-Ontario border crossing is one frequented by freight trucks, which are the most likely to see automation in the near term, according to a report by market research firm Forrester.
Continental has made a few significant moves in the past six months, to make it a primary player in the development of self-driving vehicles. It started testing a shuttle route in Frankfurt and announced a major investment in autonomous software and parts.
