Imagine a traffic signal that doesn't just change based on a pre-set timer, but truly understands the real-time flow of vehicles, cyclists, and pedestrians in three-dimension. Picture a system that prioritizes safety, respects privacy, and works reliably in rain, snow, or total darkness. This is the reality Ouster BlueCity solution is creating, and it all began as an ambitious idea in a university lab.
The story of the Ouster BlueCity system is a testament to innovation and the power of perseverance. It’s the journey of a passionate team, starting with a small seed of an idea and growing into a global leader in Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS), transforming how we navigate our cities.
Roots at McGill University and an all-Canadian dream
The Ouster BlueCity story starts with a clear vision and a drive to solve a fundamental urban problem: the inefficiencies and safety risks of outdated traffic management. Asad Lesani, and Ian Boyd, both with deep roots in engineering and technology, saw a glaring gap in the market during their time at McGill University. Existing camera-based traffic systems were prone to errors, struggled in adverse weather, and often raised privacy concerns. They believed there had to be a better, smarter, and more effective way. This led them to develop the BlueCity solution.
Long hours and relentless testing resulted in a transformational solution: a combination of AI and lidar technology to capture real-time, multimodal data on road users, speed and trajectories. This provides unprecedented insights and automation to create a pathway to safer roads and enhanced traffic flow.
Ian Boyd and Dr. Asad Lesani in BlueCity's early seed days
From the start, our focus was to build a next-generation detection system leveraging the power of lidar and AI to give cities a 'digital brain' that could finally understand complex road user movements. Seeing our detection software evolve into a global standard that helps protect road users across continents, is a testament to the incredible engineering talent we have.
A powerful partnership: Velodyne and Ouster join forces
As BlueCity’s technology matured and its potential became undeniable, the company attracted the attention of key players in the rapidly evolving lidar industry. Recognizing the game-changing nature of BlueCity’s software-defined lidar solution for ITS, Velodyne acquired BlueCity. This strategic move provided BlueCity with access to Velodyne’s extensive resources, market presence, and technological expertise, accelerating its growth and global reach. The story took another significant turn with the merger of two leading lidar companies, Velodyne Lidar and Ouster.
Ouster continued to develop the BlueCity solution, unifying its underlying deep-learning AI perception model with Ouster Gemini – its digital lidar perception platform for security, logistics, transportation, and crowd analytics - enabling Ouster BlueCity functionality with Ouster digital lidar, and paving the way for more features and faster development.
Over the last three years, Ouster BlueCity has emerged as the flagship ITS solution. Ouster’s deep learning perception model has reached a significant milestone, trained on a massive dataset of over 4 million labeled objects across 800 unique global sites. This high-fidelity training allows Ouster’s AI model to recognize multimodal road users with precision. Crucially, Ouster BlueCity processes this intelligence at the edge—directly at the intersection—enabling near real-time detection and alerts without needing to send large amounts of data to a central server.
Dr. Asad Lesani and Ian Boyd after BlueCity was acquired by Velodyne
From small pilots to ~700 intersections worldwide: A story of global adoption
The true measure of any technological advancement lies in its real-world application and impact. The journey from a few carefully monitored Canadian pilot projects in Montreal, Edmonton, Vancouver and Kelowna, to widespread global deployment is a testament to the value Ouster BlueCity brings. In the early days, the team worked closely with visionary partners - from agencies to universities - to test and refine their solution in various real-world scenarios. Each pilot project was a crucial learning experience, allowing them to iterate and improve the technology, demonstrating its effectiveness in different climates, traffic conditions, and urban landscapes.
Traffic operators witnessed firsthand the high-performance of BlueCity compared to conventional systems and sensors. Today, Ouster BlueCity has become a globally recognized and trusted solution with contracted deployments at nearly 700 sites - from busy urban intersections and mid-blocks, to highway and freeway ramps.. This exponential growth represents a fundamental shift in how agencies are approaching traffic management, prioritizing safety, efficiency, and mobility in one complete system.
The journey from our first pilot in Montreal to becoming a global ITS leader has been driven by a clear mission: to remove detection limitations for safer, more optimized roadways. Seeing our technology adopted at hundreds of intersections worldwide proves that there is a global demand for high-fidelity 3D data that helps cities achieve Vision Zero while keeping citizen privacy at the forefront. We are just getting started.
Example Canadian intersections with Ouster BlueCity installed
Example Canadian intersections with Ouster BlueCity installed
Example Canadian intersections with Ouster BlueCity installed
Why are agencies adopting Ouster BlueCity?
The rapid and widespread adoption of Ouster BlueCity isn't by luck. It’s driven by a compelling set of advantages that directly address the pain points of modern traffic management.
1. Precise detection and reliability
Traditional camera-based systems, while useful, have inherent limitations. Their performance can degrade significantly in low light, heavy rain, or snow.
Ouster BlueCity, powered by lidar, completely changes the game. Unlike cameras that rely on reflected visible light, lidar actively emits laser pulses and measures the time it takes for them to bounce back. This creates a high-resolution, three-dimensional digital traffic twin of the environment, completely independent of ambient lighting conditions.
This fundamental difference translates into far higher accuracy and reliability. Ouster BlueCity can precisely detect and track multimodal road users – pedestrians, two-wheelers, and vehicles – regardless of the weather or time of day. This precision is critical for effective signal actuation, ensuring that road users are accounted for. The ability to accurately detect and prioritize vulnerable road users is a big leap forward for intersection safety, directly addressing the limitations of other camera and radar-based solutions.
During the 2026 North American Winter Storm Fern, one of our partner cities confirmed that Ouster BlueCity was the only detection system to remain fully operational. Despite the extreme conditions, the system continued to accurately detect multimodal road users, ensuring traffic signals and safety protocols remained active. This resilience proves the unmatched power of 3D digital lidar, and we are proud to be a key distributor bringing this level of reliability to Canadian infrastructure.
Ouster BlueCity in the snow
2. Trust by design
Ouster BlueCity provides a significant advantage to agencies and cities with System-level NEMA TS2 certifications, NDAA OS sensor compliance along with Blue UAS OS1 and IP68/69K certifications. This level of compliance ensures that Ouster’s sensors are engineered to provide peace of mind to customers as well as provide long-term operational success for smart city deployments.
3. A single system to simplify traffic management
Ouster BlueCity stands out as a unified solution that streamlines infrastructure by combining actuation, alerts, and analytics into one single traffic management system. Rather than managing multiple disconnected sensors, agencies can utilize a single installation to dynamically optimize signal timing for all road users, broadcast real-time V2X safety messages to connected vehicles, and capture high-resolution data on safety and traffic events from vehicle counts to near-miss incidents. This holistic approach not only simplifies deployment and reduces maintenance costs, but also provides the "digital brain" necessary to improve both mobility and safety.
Ouster BlueCity in action
The journey ahead: scaling innovation across continents
What began in Montreal has evolved into a global catalyst for the modernization of Intelligent Transportation Systems - and Ouster is just getting started. The year 2026 marks a major milestone in our roadmap as we scale our footprint across new continents, backed by a customer-centric ITS support team and leading distribution partners.
The success story of Ouster BlueCity is about more than just technological prowess; it is about scaling safety and making cities worldwide more livable, sustainable, and secure for everyone. As more agencies embrace this transformative technology, we hope the Ouster BlueCity vision will continue to shape the future of intelligent transportation for years to come.
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