Thinkstock
Industryweek 13889 Road 595 T

Robot Cars to Descend on 10 US Sites as Proving Grounds

Jan. 20, 2017
“The designated proving grounds will collectively form a community of practice around safe testing and deployment.”

Robot cars will be put through their paces by researchers and federal regulators at 10 test tracks designated by the U.S. as official sites for validating the technology.

In one of its last acts under the Obama administration, the Transportation Department picked two sites in California and one each in Michigan and seven other states as locations for proving self-driving cars before they hit U.S. roadways. The selections follow a nationwide competition among national testing centers that began in November.

Automakers will share the facilities and data to accelerate the arrival of autonomous cars, the regulator said. The race is on to put robot cars on the road, with Tesla Motors Inc., BMW AG, General Motors Co., Ford Motor Co. and Volvo Cars each pledging production of fully autonomous cars within five years. Alphabet Inc. spun off its Google Self-Driving Car Project, renamed it Waymo, and unveiled a driverless Chrysler Pacifica minivan earlier this month.

“The designated proving grounds will collectively form a community of practice around safe testing and deployment,” outgoing U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said in a statement. “This group will openly share best practices for the safe conduct of testing."

Detroit and Silicon Valley, vying for supremacy over autonomous autos, each received official test sites in their backyards. GoMentum Station, a decommissioned Naval base in Concord and the San Diego Association of Governments each got the nod in California. The American Center for Mobility at Willow Run in Michigan, where B-24 bombers were built during World War II, also made the cut.

“Speed is of the essence here,” Senator Gary Peters, a Michigan Democrat who pushed for the competition to name official test sites, said “We’re in a very important race against Asian and European countries that are moving forward with this technology.”

By Keith Naughton

Popular Sponsored Recommendations

Shifting Your Business from Products to Service-Based Business Models: Generating Predictable Revenues

Oct. 27, 2023
Executive summary on a recent IndustryWeek-hosted webinar sponsored by SAP

Digitally Transforming Data and Processes With Product Lifecycle Management

Oct. 29, 2023
Manufacturers face increasing challenges in product development as they strive to consistently deliver improved results. Discover how industry leaders are improving time-to-market...

How Manufacturers Can Optimize Operations with Weather Intelligence

Nov. 2, 2023
The bad news? Severe weather has emerged as one of the biggest threats to continuity and safety in manufacturing. The good news? The intelligence solutions that build weather ...

Gain a competitive edge with real-world lessons on private 5G networks

Nov. 16, 2023
The use of private networks in manufacturing applications is rapidly growing. In this paper, we present valuable insights and lessons learned from the field with the goal of enhancing...

Voice your opinion!

To join the conversation, and become an exclusive member of IndustryWeek, create an account today!