August 4, 2026 - Stellantis Celebrates 30 Years at Canadian Tech Center

This is the Telemetry Transportation Daily for August 3, 2026, and I'm Sam Abuelsamid, Vice President of Market Research for Telemetry. 

Today, Stellantis celebrated the 30th anniversary of its Automotive Research and Development Center in Windsor, Ontario. The facility was first established in partnership with the University of Windsor as a venue for testing and validation of products from the company then known as Chrysler Corp, as well as for researching technologies with students and academics. In the years since, the ARDC has expanded its scope to several other schools in Canada as well as the Politecnico di Torino in Italy. More than 800 engineering co-op students have cycled through the facility in the past three decades, including the current Director of Canada Engineering, Tony Mancina. 

The facility is tied in to Stellantis' global network of engineering facilities and carries out a wide range of tests of future products and components for development, validation, and durability. It is the home to the only full-motion driving simulator operated by Stellantis in North America.  This allows a vehicle cabin to be mounted on a platform with electric actuators for nine degrees of freedom and a surround screen and audio system for full driver-in-the-loop testing. There is also a hemi-anechoic chamber with a full chassis dynamometer for testing braking performance and noise, as well as smaller chambers for testing corner assemblies.  ARDC has six of the nine shaker rigs operated by Stellantis in North America for durability testing. A vehicle installed on these rigs can simulate the equivalent of 240,000 miles of driving on some of the most severe roads in just four weeks. 

The newest element of ARDC is Stellantis' new North America Battery Technology Center. The BTC officially came online in January of this year to test cells, modules and full battery packs for hybrid, plug-in hybrid, and electric vehicles. The 8,700 square meter lab has 35 walk-in chambers that can test 63 complete battery packs simultaneously, along with 11 reach-in chambers that can run 132 simultaneous cell tests. The lab can do cell and pack validation as well as characterization for battery management systems. 

Over the past 30 years, Stellantis has invested more than $2 billion in ARDC with plans for another $500 million in the next five years, and it employs about 800 people.  

Thanks for listening.