Construction work has started in Warwickshire on the first facility in the 海角视频 to develop and test self-parking cars.
Nuneaton-based global engineering firm, HORIBA MIRA has teamed-up with Coventry University to create the ‘Trusted Autonomous Parking’ (Park-IT).
It involves the creation of a multi-storey car park, on-road parking bays and parking lot environments at the MIRA Proving Ground on the edge of Nuneaton.
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When it is up and running the facility will provide real-world parking situations to support the development of self-parking cars.
The parking areas will be co-located in the HORIBA MIRA City Circuit, a safe, comprehensible and fully controllable purpose-built ‘cityscape’ test track environment.
The facility will provide an environment for the transition from an urban driving environment into a dedicated parking facility.
It will also be supported by a ‘digital twin’ so users can replicate parking scenarios in simulation.
This will enable a wide range of connected and autonomous vehicle (CAV) driving and parking scenarios to be tested in a virtual environment before being validated at the facility.
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Park-IT is one of eight funded projects that make up Testbed 海角视频 led by the Centre for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (CCAV) and Zenzic the self-driving 海角视频 hub organisation, which was created by Government and industry to accelerate the self-driving revolution in the 海角视频.
Self-driving parking will bring significant benefits to the public through the services it will enable, such as autonomous valet parking.
In order to achieve that a number of challenges need to be overcome, including tight locations, restricted visibility and lack of GPS (in covered locations).
The below footage shows a Land Rover vehicle completing a self-driving lap of the Coventry ring road
Park-IT will aim to help solve those challenges and test innovative services, in a safe and configurable environment.
Chris Reeves, head of CAV technologies at HORIBA MIRA, said: “As the Government continues to press ahead with its vision for an autonomous and connected transport sector, it is vital that the integrity of all technologies is fully tested and verified to ensure consumer confidence.
“Park-IT brings a unique CAV testing facility to the 海角视频 that will help to ensure the next generation of connected and autonomous vehicles are safe and secure."
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Mr Reeve added: “Autonomous valet parking will be one of the first wide-scale adopted examples of highly automated driving, and the creation of Park-IT will allow for the validation of this technology in a safe and repeatable way.
“Combining our extensive engineering expertise with Coventry University’s research capability enables us to build upon existing knowledge and projects to deliver a comprehensive testing and development ecosystem for CAV.”
HORIBA MIRA and Coventry University are also delivering TIC-IT; a bespoke test track on HORIBA MIRA’s Proving Ground.
This provides a safe setting in which CAVs can be tested to the limits of controllability.