With that crispness in the air a sure sign summer is coming to an end, Robert Laganière is already looking forward to the sub-zero chill of January. While snowbanks, blizzards and icy roads are a veritable nightmare for most Ottawa residents, for the University of Ottawa computer scientist and entrepreneur they represent the ideal proving ground for his company's cutting-edge tech. Laganière is the founder and CEO of Sensor Cortek, a startup launched early last year out of an incubator run by uOttawa's Faculty of Engineering. He leads a team of researchers developing technology for self-driving vehicles that uses artificial intelligence to help detect pedestrians, cars and other surrounding objects. The seven-person company's state-of-the-art sensors combine tools such as radar and Lidar with deep neural computer networks that mimic the functions of the human brain.