FCA US Investing $30 Million in Autonomous Driving and Advanced Testing Facility at Chelsea Proving Grounds

FCA US have announced that they will be investing more than $30 million at its Chelsea Proving Grounds in Southeast Michigan in order to further development and testing of autonomous vehicle and advanced safety technologies. The all-new facility which will see testing programs beginning in December will feature a dedicated autonomous highway-speed track, 35-acre safety-feature evaluation area and a high-tech command centre. Testing of various levels of autonomy enables the company to evaluate FCA vehicles using test protocols from third parties such as the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) plus additional automatic electronic brake test simulations. The autonomous highway-speed track offers the capability to develop autonomous vehicle systems under a wide range of challenging environments, including obstacles, tunnels, varying road lighting conditions, and entrance and exit ramps. This seems like a step in the right direction in terms of autonomous vehicle testing as it creates a safe environment away from the public where there have been some fatal incidents in the past. Additionally, FCA says the command centre will cover more than 6,500 square feet and houses computer equipment which is vital to GPS capability and test vehicle communication. Although this announcement came from FCA US, the research done at the Chelsea Proving Grounds will undoubtedly affect the Canadian market as well.