The city has selected Scarborough’s West Rouge neighbourhood to be the testing ground for a pilot project of autonomous vehicles.

Mayor John Tory announced new details of the driverless shuttle project, which city council first approved last year, on Monday afternoon at a conference of the National Association of City Transportation Officials in downtown Toronto.

He revealed the city hopes to start operating an autonomous vehicle service to Scarborough’s Rouge Hill GO Transit station by September 2020. The exact route has not yet been determined, but it’s expected to be finalized after public consultations the mayor said will take place this fall.

According to previous city and TTC reports, the goal of the pilot is to determine whether autonomous vehicles could help connect residents in low-density areas where demand doesn’t support conventional bus service to public transit.

The mayor said the West Rouge area was chosen because “it is one of those neighbourhoods that has basically no connection to higher order transit.”

“We’re very much hopeful this is going to provide one answer among many that we need to get more people onto public transit,” he said.

The type and number of vehicles that will be used in the pilot has yet to be finalized, but they’re expected to be electric-powered and carry between eight and 12 passengers.

The city expects to lease an autonomous vehicle that has already been developed, rather than commissioning new technology. The shuttle service would operate in mixed traffic with regular automobiles, and the pilot is planned to last between six and 12 months.

In a scrum after his speech, Tory acknowledged the project will initially benefit “a relatively small number (of people).” But if the trial is successful “we could expand it to a large number of neighbourhoods,” he said.

Tory said the goal was to create a “more flexible and innovative” transit system.

According to a 2018 city report, the cost of the project is estimated at $1.2 million. It will be jointly funded by the federal government, City of Toronto, TTC, and Metrolinx, which is the provincial transportation agency for the GTHA.

Although the vehicles used will be capable of operating without a driver, a Metrolinx or TTC staff member will be on board at all times to take control of necessary.

Councillor Jennifer McKelvie (Ward 25, Scarborough-Rouge Park), whose ward includes the Rouge Hill GO station, said local community groups who have been briefed on the plan are excited about the pilot’s potential to connect residents to transit.

McKelvie said the West Rouge neighbourhood at Toronto’s far eastern edge “is very much a single-family home community, not very dense and therefore not very well serviced by traditional TTC.”

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The councillor said local residents are concerned about the lack of parking at the Rouge Hill GO station, and the pilot could eliminate the need for residents who commute downtown to drive there on weekday mornings.

She said on weekends the shuttle could be used to take people from the GO station to Rouge National Urban Park.

Ben Spurr is a Toronto-based reporter covering transportation. Reach him by email at bspurr@thestar.ca or follow him on Twitter: @BenSpurr

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