Ottawa, ON – Tuesday, May 20, 2025 – At the forefront of Canada’s autonomous mobility transformation, a cross-sector coalition of innovators will convene at ITS Canada 2025 to spotlight the country’s first medium-speed automated commercial shuttle trial with four-season operation on public roads, designed to serve all, including those with disabilities, through inclusive mobility solutions. […]
At Area X.O, we’re helping companies develop autonomous car technology using our private test track and working closely with the City of Ottawa to explore solutions on public streets. In addition, we’re working with leading companies building aerial drones and ground robotic technology, as described in our recent DARTT Zone announcement. If you’re wondering whether […]
Read More… from At the Intersection of Drones, Cars, and Robots
It’s nearly here. On June 21, Canada’s first ever Drone and Advanced Robot Training and Testing Zone (DARTT) will open. It’s all happening at Area X.O – the Ottawa Research and Development complex operated by Invest Ottawa. It’s where companies like InDro Robotics invent, test and perfect new technological smart mobility solutions before commercialising them. The zone will offer […]
Read More… from New Drone, Robot Testing And Training Facility Open
Simulators were once the exclusive domain of airline pilot training. Today they are used for many purposes including the development of Advanced Driving Assistance Systems (ADAS) driving systems and connected and autonomous cars. To understand how it works, here’s a simple analogy: the simulator lets self-driving software “play a game” that’s sufficiently close to reality. […]
Read More… from Why we won’t have Autonomous cars without simulation
Smart cities hold a lot of promise: safer communities, improved transportation, better air quality, and increased digital equity are but a few benefits. There are economic gains too. According to experts, smart cities will be responsible for $2.4 trillion dollars of economic growth by 2025. Enabling this tech-empowered urban renaissance requires an immense amount of […]
Written by Kelly Daize, Strategic Market Director, Area X.O Self-driving cars will eventually be far safer than those driven by people. That’s the promise of self-driving technology. We know we can get there, but there’s a lot of work required before that happens. The problem is large and complex, and many areas need more research […]
Read More… from Protecting Vulnerable Road Users – What Have We Learned?
Everyone loves a good story. Stories are how we make information stick. They once were our only lifeline to history, and we continue to teach our children using stories. As well, good storytelling is critically important in how we entertain ourselves. But even if a story sounds believable, it isn’t always true. Maybe even more […]
Blog written by: Divyanshu Kamboj A technology as complex and interconnected as V2X requires pilot programs to develop, test, and refine it. Yet, a pilot doesn’t often answer questions of scale, like how the technology should interoperate along long corridor routes with dozens of intersections, or how V2X intersections should scale to optimally complement existing […]
Blog written by: Kelly Daize I recently overheard a colleague provide a shorthand description of Area X.O as a “smart mobility R&D facility”. After my immediate reaction (“no… that is only a small part of what we do”) I realized that my biggest beef may be with my concept of the term R&D. When I […]
On March 8, the world celebrated International Women’s Day. From February 28 to April 6, Invest Ottawa, alongside dozens of strong local, regional, and national collaborators, marked the 4th International Women’s Week: IWW 2022. Across industries spanning tech, entrepreneurship, academia, research, media, investment, smart mobility, cybersecurity, and beyond, IWW 2022 addressed the critical opportunities and […]