As I understand it from reading some of the plans, the self-driving vehicles in the Sidewalk Labs experiments will themselves be tightly integrated into the “smart city’s” surveillance and analytics network in a way that Uber’s are not. In other words, the cars themselves become sensors and feedback mechanisms that are as integral to the project as the devices mounted on street furniture or embedded in the pavement and buildings.
Extending the Quayside sensors (cars included) out into the greater Waterfront area is what most people are worried about in this case, and a document like this one does nothing to assuage those concerns. From the article’s discussion of who has final say over extension of the sensor network beyond Quayside:
The development agreement between Sidewalk Labs and Waterfront Toronto hedges that point by saying “the creation of such a plan does not itself signal any right to implement all or any part of it. To the contrary, the parties acknowledge that in many cases, the implementation of plans … will be subject to various contingencies, such as the receipt of certain governmental approvals and clearances, approvals of or agreements with landowners or other third-party consents.”
It also states that any proposed options shall be “supported by robust business planning and financial analysis.”
However, there does not have to be a vote by Toronto city council, the Ontario legislature or the federal government on whether to approve or reject the master development plan. Rather, there only will be votes on issues that required to implement the plan, such as changes to bylaws and procurement policies.
From the news reports I’m seeing and the resignation letters from tech advisory panel members, there’s a profound and well-founded lack of trust in Waterfront Toronto’s ability to put the concerns of those who live and work in and pass through the area in front of the demands of Sidewalk Labs.
