TECHNICAL TOURS - ITS Canada 2025 Annual Conference & Expo

The National Research Council of Canada supports your innovation efforts with strategic and collaborative research centres, scientific and technical advisory services, and licensing opportunities. Our expertise, highly qualified personal and specialized research and testing facilities supports faster innovation, enhances people's lives and addresses some of the world's most pressing problems. We are responsive, creative and uniquely placed to partner with Canadian industry, to invest in strategic R&D programming that will address critical issues for our future.

At the NRC’s Automotive and Surface Transportation Research Centre in Ottawa, visitors will explore cutting-edge facilities dedicated to advancing transportation technologies. They’ll have the opportunity to see unique testing labs for vehicle safety, driving in extreme climatic conditions, vehicle lifecycle durability, and fuel efficiency and electrification initiatives. In addition to these, the NRC will showcase the newly-installed virtual reality vehicle simulation laboratory. In this laboratory, the user will view on-road and off-road driving scenarios in extreme conditions, while remaining safe in a virtual environment. Visitors will also see vehicles using intelligent and autonomous systems and learn about how resilient transportation solutions are developed. Through the latest innovations in transportation research, participants will see how science and engineering performed at the NRC are shaping the future of transportation for safety, efficiency, and environmental sustainability.

Area X.O provides an unmatched environment for innovators and entrepreneurs to test, validate, and advance their technologies while collaborating with partners from government, industry, and academia. This unique facility, strategically located just 12 km from Parliament Hill, spans a secure 1,900-acre site that includes 16 km of roadways within a 90-acre dedicated testing ground. Operated by Invest Ottawa with significant support from the City of Ottawa and other government and corporate partners, Area X.O benefits from over $51M in investments supporting advancements in smart mobility, cleantech, autonomous and connected vehicles, advanced robotics, and Agtech testing.

During the tech tour, participants will explore our four distinct test zones, which feature urban and suburban roadways and infrastructure, complete with intersections, an at-grade railway crossing, IoT devices, and sensor technologies. The tour will highlight high-value assets such as a fully Level 5 autonomous vehicle, low-speed shuttles, test mannequins, and the NIST-standard urban robotics test facility. Guests will also visit our Command Centre, where we integrate live and simulated testing, manage the facility, and showcase insights from our Transport Canada Roadway projects.

Traffic management and operations are at the heart of keeping a city moving. In Ottawa, the Ministry of Transportation Ontario (MTO) manages the 400-series highways that provide vital trunk corridors to get people and goods across the city, with a significant recent deployment of ITS infrastructure and ongoing infrastructure renewal through the heart of the network. The City of Ottawa’s Traffic Services Branch has long been known to be pioneering in its efforts from development of its own traffic control system in the late 1990s that continues to pay dividends through world-leading CAV and V2X initiatives, to running its own sign, signal and controller shops.

Ride Ottawa’s LRT from the conference centre to Corso Italia station and experience how new transit infrastructure is changing how Ottawa moves. Then only a short walk from the station and each other, participants on this tour will get the chance to visit MTO’s and the City of Ottawa’s Traffic Operations Centres.

Note: we won't be offering a refund if your train or flight has been delayed, but we will do our best to figure out a way for you to join the tour in progress. This tour is taking place close to downtown Ottawa.
Participants should be prepared for weather conditions as this tour will require walking between facilities and to/from the LRT.

Approximate schedule:

11:30-12:15 pm Lunch at OCEC (near ballpark)
12:15-1:00 pm Take LRT and arrive at Corso Italia & walk to MTO
1:00-2:00 pm Visit MTO TOC
2:15-4:00 pm Visit Loretta (TOC, Sign, Signal & Controller shops)
4:00-4:45 pm Return to OCEC

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