The facility will allow developers to put the latest technology through all kinds of real life scenarios
Driverless cars will soon be whizzing round a £100 million test facility in the Midlands countryside. The autonomous vehicle test site is said to be the only one of its kind in the world, allowing cars, trucks, buses and bikes of the future to drive around at speed, navigate junctions and car parks and talk to each other.
It will allow developers from around the world to put the latest technology through all sorts of real life scenarios.
The 1.2 million sq ft facility – called ASSURED CAV (Connected and Autonomous Vehicle) – has gone up on an 83 acre site at the huge Horiba MIRA test centre on the A5 between Hinckley and Nuneaton.
It could eventually lead to 2,000 new jobs.
Not only will it be used by manufacturers to test new vehicles, but it will also be used to provide evidence to shape legislation, policy and insurance for when driverless cars and vehicles that communicate with one another become an everyday sight.
The MIRA site has been leading the way in helping car manufactures develop computer controlled vehicles for years, working with the likes of Ford, Jaguar Land Rover and Tata Motors on self-driving cars which are now being trialled on UK streets.
The new test track and linked facilities – including a multi-storey car park where cars will park themselves – should be open in March.
Declan Allen, managing director at Horiba MIRA said: We’ve been on a journey to create ASSURED CAV – it represents many years of intense research and investment to bring together one of the most comprehensive CAV validation ecosystems in the world.
At a time when the automotive industry is facing significant headwinds, we’ve been steadfast in our approach to delivering this investment and we’re extremely proud to provide an ecosystem which will allow the automotive industry, as well as complementary industries, to develop and prove their self-driving technology, Allen said.
He said that it will allow companies to bring forward their activities in this sector in an efficient and optimised manner, enabling them to solve the real-world problems of integrating their automated products into the public roads, whilst also importantly achieving consumer acceptance.