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Ontario is becoming a hub of self-driving car development and that’s potentially good news for anyone who’s been stuck in gridlock, or frustrated by the forlorn search for a parking spot downtown in winter. Autonomous and semi-autonomous cars developed in our backyard mean cars that are going to work in our climate – not to mention getting a slice of this trillion-dollar industry.

“We have many of the pieces needed to become a leading player in autonomous vehicle technology, and ultimately – speaking kind of selfishly – for our area to really benefit from it in terms of a better quality of life,” said Oshoma Momoh, chief technical advisor at Toronto’s MaRS Discovery District.

WATERLOO — Two of the most important sectors of the Ontario economy — automotive and high tech — have converged in southern Ontario to form an economic cluster that is unique in North America.

The convergence has been driven mainly by the availability of software developers and other tech talent, Ross McKenzie, managing director of the Waterloo Centre for Automotive Research said Wednesday in an interview during the University of Waterloo's Autotech Symposium.

Imagine the day when manufacturing facilities can fix themselves and require no human workers at all. With industry 4.0, that day is a lot closer than you think

Your car has yet to reach its first birthday when the transmission seizes up unexpectedly. A mechanic informs you the culprit is a hairline crack on a gear deep inside the engine block. You haven’t been in any collisions, so how did a faulty part end up in your new vehicle?

KITCHENER — He's got the vehicles: A fleet of 10 all-electric Tesla Model X SUVs.

He's got the staff: A team of 18 full-time employees and counting.

Now all Jason Hammond needs are the passengers.

Hammond is the president of Wroute, a new transportation service that's launching between Waterloo Region and Guelph.

Artificial intelligence (AI) technology may soon make it easier and cheaper to detect problems with roads, bridges, buildings and other infrastructure.

A new AI software system developed by researchers at Waterloo Engineering automatically analyzes photographs taken by vehicle-mounted cameras to flag potholes, cracks and other defects.

“If governments have that information, they can better plan when to repair a particular road and do it at a lower cost,” says John Zelek, a systems design engineering professor. “Essentially, it could mean lower taxes for residents.”

Researchers at the University of Waterloo have reached an important milestone by logging their 100^thkilometre on public roads in a self-driving car.

Achieved last week in an industrial area of Waterloo, it is the culmination of almost two years of work since the research team won approval from the Ontario government to do on-road testing in an autonomous vehicle pilot program.

Two research networks led by Waterloo Engineering experts were front and centre as more than $78 million in federal funding was announced today for collaborations between academia and businesses across the country.

Ehsan Toyserkani, a professor of mechanical and mechatronics engineering, will receive $5.5 million over five years for the Network for Holistic Innovations in Additive Manufacturing (HI-AM).

Anjie Liu, a civil engineering graduate student, is using simulation software to help traffic controllers decrease vehicle emissions.

Road vehicles are a significant source of pollution in Canada, accounting for about 145.1 megatonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent in 2016, or about 21 percent of total greenhouse gas emissions.

As a result, municipalities are beginning to consider the environmental costs of vehicle emissions as part of their traffic management practices. The Region of Waterloo in Ontario, for example, looks at fuel consumption and emissions when conducting intersection control studies.

Anechoic chamber is free from noise and electronic interference, leading to new scientific breakthroughs in Waterloo

WATERLOO — The heavy steel door inside Room 1018 of the Engineering 5 building at the University of Waterloo looks more like a bank vault than the entrance to a laboratory.