Millbrook Proving Ground will officially open its Autonomous Village, a new centre for testing CAVs, this week.
The Autonomous Village comprises six purpose-built workshops built to support mechanical, integration and software development for self-driving vehicles, from passenger cars to buses.
With 70km (43 miles) of secure test tracks, a private, 5G-enabled mobile network and supporting physical and virtual infrastructure, users can run a range of test routes around the site, with varying levels of complexity – including through moving test environments created using synchronised ADAS targets – and can analyse the data either at the end of the route or in real time.
The test bed gives open access to all users – including but not limited to global OEMs, SMEs and start-ups – and provides a combination of real-world and simulated environments and real-time connectivity to challenge software, sensor, cyber security system and telecommunications developers.
The official opening of the Autonomous Village will signal that the Millbrook-Culham Urban Test Bed, first announced at the end of 2017, is open for business. The test bed is co-funded by the Centre for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (CCAV) through Zenzic, as part of the Connected and Autonomous Vehicles Test Beds competition.
George Freeman, minister for the future of transport, said: “The UK’s long term potential for self-driving vehicles is huge, and could help improve road safety, tackle loneliness and create economic opportunity.
“The UK’s first autonomous village will be the perfect location for dedicated development and safely testing of self-driving technology. I commend Millbrook for leading the way in helping take autonomous vehicles from testing centres to the road.”
