Seeking to advance the development of connected and autonomous vehicle technology, Toyota Motor North America and the Toyota Research Institute committed $5 million to the non-profit American Center for Mobility near Ypsilanti, Michigan. Located on a 311-acre site at the former GM Willow Run operation, the Center for Mobility was created in 2016 to allow automakers, tech firms and suppliers the opportunity to develop and evaluate new autonomous vehicle capabilities. The facility is designated as a national automated proving ground by the federal government. Toyota’s investment makes it the first automaker to become a Founder-level sponsor of the ACM.
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“As we move forward with the development of autonomous cars, we must remember that not all test miles are created equal,” noted Gill Pratt, CEO of Toyota Research Institute. “The road to creating a car as safe–or safer–than a human driver will require billions of test miles including simulation, real-world driving on public roads and closed-course testing where we can expose our systems to extreme circumstances and conditions. The new ACM closed-course facility is a significant step forward in this journey and will accelerate our ability to help prevent crashes and save lives.”
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