Making our cities smarter: Kelowna pilots Canada’s first 5G smart city solution

As cities slowly open up and residents start to move around more, investments in future-ready technology are more important than ever. In partnership with UBC and the City of Kelowna, we’re launching Canada’s first 5G pilot of smart city transportation technology in a real-world setting.

As part of the pilot, sensors powered by Rogers 5G network are being installed at two intersections in downtown Kelowna to gather anonymous vehicle and foot traffic patterns. This data will be used by UBC researchers to help find ways to improve vehicle, pedestrian and cyclist safety and develop technology that will instantly deploy emergency vehicles when a collision is detected by the sensors.

“5G isn’t just the next G – it will truly transform how we live and work with new applications and solutions that are being built through collaborations with industry, government and universities. We are focused on bringing together the right partners to build a strong 5G ecosystem and this pilot with UBC and the City of Kelowna will serve as a blueprint for the development of made-in-Canada 5G smart city technology.” –  Jorge Fernandes, Chief Technology and Information Officer

The pilot is part of Rogers nearly $20 million national investment in R&D and strategic partnerships at leading Canadian institutions, including UBC, the University of Waterloo, Communitech and Ryerson University to incubate and commercialize 5G use cases and applications.