FCA US Spends USD 30 million on New Autonomous Driving and Testing Facility

FCA US (Fiat Chrysler Automobiles) has announced that the company has recently invested over USD 30 million for the development of a new facility specializing in the development of autonomous driving and advanced safety technologies and their testing at its Chelsea Proving Grounds in southeast Michigan. The new facility will began conducting testing programs from September and comprises a dedicated autonomous highway-speed track, 35-acre safety-feature evaluation area and a high-tech command center.

Commenting on the new facility, Mike Manley, chief executive officer, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and chief operating officer, NAFTA region said that by ramping up its facilities for advanced testing and research on autonomous and safety technologies and their testing, FCA US will be able to provide customers with the features they want across its brand portfolio.

The facility will be able to accommodate testing for different levels of autonomy and the company will also be able to test FCA models using test protocols from third parties like the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), U.S. New Car Assessment Program (NCAP) and European New Car Assessment Program (EuroNCAP), as well as additional other automatic electronic brake test simulations.

The autonomous highway-speed track will allow the company to develop autonomous vehicle systems and test them under a wide range of complex environments, like those with obstacles, tunnels, different road lighting conditions, and interstate-style exit and entrance ramps.

The command center which covers over 6,500 square feet houses computer equipment that is vital to GPS capability and test vehicle communication.

The ADAS facility accommodates testing of advanced iterations of automatic emergency braking and automated parking technologies on a new 35-acre paved test facility.