Transportation systems keep our country connected and economy moving. NRC scientists and engineers tests a variety of vehicles, materials and fuel technologies to keep Canadian surface traffic flowing and improve the safety of the country's roads and bridges.

The Industry Sector

The automotive industry is Canada's largest manufacturing sector, accounting for 12% of manufacturing GDP and 24 percent of manufacturing trade. The sector employs 138,000 people in automotive manufacturing, and another 345,000 in distribution and aftermarket sales and service. In 2008, industry shipments amounted to $47 billion in vehicle assembly and $24 billion in automotive components.

At the same time, the automotive sector faces ongoing and emerging challenges. Automotive companies must be globally competitive and develop unique solutions and capabilities, while facing a lack of resources for conducting R&D activities. As green engineering is becoming pervasive, manufacturers trying to adopt green products also need to find solutions to reduce fuel consumption and costs.

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Learn more about NRC's automotive solutions.

Technology Platforms

Fuel Efficiency

Light weight materials
Vehicle aerodynamics

Alternative propulsion

Plug-in hybrid and electric vehicles
Fuel cell vehicles
Bio fuels

Cognitive Vehicles

Sensors and sensor networks
Telematics/connectivity
Vehicle health management

Innovation Platforms

NRC Automotive, together with our industrial and research partners, provides cost effective R&D and access to

an extensive network of leading scientific and engineering experts;
Research and Development capabilities and specialized laboratories;
State-of-the-art equipment and facilities found throughout 20 institutes across the country.

For small and medium-sized automotive companies, NRC supports innovation by providing industry advice and research funding support through NRC's Industrial Research Assistance Program (NRC-IRAP)

Automotive Partnership Canada fund (APC)

NRC is a key partner in an initiative that will provide $145 million in research funding over five years to support significant R & D activities in collaboration with the Canadian automotive industry. Other partners include: the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC), Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI), the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), and the Canada Excellence Research Chairs (CERC). For more information, contact: www.apc-pac.ca.

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