What’s new with the Technology Council

This is part of a series of articles profiling the online meetings of TAC’s six councils and their committees that occurred in April 2023.

TAC’s Technology Council welcomed 33 attendees to its spring meeting on April 17.

Guest presentations

The Council received presentations from Devon Aaroe (City of Dawson Creek) on cyber attacks and the public sector, Lindsay Wiginton (Dunsky Energy) on the role of government in deploying EV charging infrastructure, and Louise Tanguay (Natural Resources Canada) on zero-emission vehicle infrastructure programs and hydrogen investments.

External organization updates

The Council heard updates from Ian Steele on ITS Canada’s recent publications and activities, and from Mahmood Nesheli on CSA Group’s ongoing express document development and research related to connected and automated vehicles.

Volunteer Project – Developing a Framework for the Harmonization of Road Authority Data

Arif Rafiq (ESRI Canada) updated the Council regarding the ongoing volunteer project. He described an upcoming survey of road authorities and noted that the group intended to produce a white paper over the coming months.

Committee updates

The Technology Council received updates from its three committees.

The Intelligent Transportation Systems Committee meeting on April 11 attracted 14 attendees. They discussed the current and future focus of the committee and received a working group update on the development of a rural ITS primer. Participants also heard a presentation from Athena Hutchins (Niagara International Transportation Technology Coalition) on ITS innovations in the Niagara region.

The Digital Applications Committee meeting on April 12 involved 13 participants. The committee advanced planning for its sessions at the upcoming fall conference, reviewed its strategic framework, and identified potential topics for lunch-and-learn events and TAC webinars over the next year.

The Connected & Automated Vehicles Integrated Committee meeting on April 13 attracted 31 participants. They discussed establishing a working group to make updates to the inventory of CAV initiatives in Canada and the CAV technical issue tracking matrix. The committee also reviewed its priority topics and 2023 conference sessions, and developed suggestions for potential TAC webinars and lunch-and-learn sessions.

Technology Council Executive volunteers

• Chair – Jeannette Montufar (MORR Transportation Consulting)
• Vice-Chair – Ken Moshi (Transport Canada)
• Chair, Connected & Automated Vehicles Integrated Committee – Michael Collins (GHD)
• Chair, Digital Applications Committee – Benoit Kroely (SIXENSE)
• Chair, Intelligent Transportation Systems Committee – Ed Stubbing (AECOM)
• Past Chair and Board Liaison – Scott Stewart (Scott Stewart & Associates)