Mercedes to test autonomous vehicles at secure US Navy base

Mercedes-Benz is to begin testing its autonomous cars on a unique site in California, at the Contra Costa Transportation Authority Concord Naval Weapons Station (CNWS), the largest test bed site in the US. Since mid-September the company has also held an official licence, issued by California, to test self-driving vehicles on public roads. The additional testing opportunities provided by the CNWS site will enable the company to significantly expand the scope of its research activities. With a test ar
October 3, 2014 Read time: 2 mins
1685 Mercedes-Benz is to begin testing its autonomous cars on a unique site in California, at the Contra Costa Transportation Authority Concord Naval Weapons Station (CNWS), the largest test bed site in the US.

Since mid-September the company has also held an official licence, issued by California, to test self-driving vehicles on public roads. The additional testing opportunities provided by the CNWS site will enable the company to significantly expand the scope of its research activities.

With a test area covering 2,100 acres, the CNWS site is currently the largest and most secure test bed site in the US. It features a network of surfaced roads resembling an urban grid plan, making it an ideal location for testing autonomous vehicles in surroundings that are as close to real life as they can be. For security reasons the testing ground, which is operated by the US Navy in conjunction with the City of Concord and the Contra Costa County Transportation Authority, is not accessible to the public.

“We can use the test site in Concord, California to run simulation tests with self-driving vehicles in a secure way, including specific hazardous situations", explained Dr Axel Gern, head of autonomous driving at 5403 Mercedes-Benz Research and Development North America, Inc. (MBRDNA). "Taken in conjunction with the results of our test drives on public roads, these tests will help us with the ongoing development of our autonomous cars." He emphasised, however, that the focus of research continues to lie in tests undertaken in a real-life environment.
Location Based Systems

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • The cloud - the future of in-car telematics?
    February 28, 2013
    Fiat Chrysler product concept and infotainment director Pierpaolo Tona told the conference that the big car manufacturers need to organise their telematics approach around three key pillars – and the first one of those is people. “OEMs need to understand consumers and their needs better than they understand them themselves,” he commented. The second pillar, suggested Tona, is technology. “Technology is never for the sake of it. Choose the right technology with the right performance to fulfil every consumer’
    Read More
  • Xerox and University of Michigan partner on urban mobility
    May 8, 2014
    Xerox is to form a three-year partnership with the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI) to help shape the future of urban mobility across the country. The ultimate goal is to demonstrate how emerging automotive information-based systems and communications capabilities enable improved transaction-based business processes.
    Read More
  • US state of the art workzone safety
    January 25, 2012
    The Texas Transportation Institute's Jerry Ullman talks about the state of the art in work zone safety in the US. Work zones are places where, perhaps more than anywhere else on the road network, mobility and safety are strongly linked. Historically, field crews and contractors wanted vehicles in work zones to be moving as slowly as possible, assuming that made conditions the safest for work crews. We are though starting to see a shift in such thinking with the realisation that excessive delays or slow-down
    Read More
  • Scania tests truck platooning
    February 11, 2015
    Dutch Infrastructure and Environment Minister Melanie Schultz van Haegen, along with representatives of the European Commission, recently took part in test drive of truck platooning on the A28 in the Netherlands. The convoy consisted of three Scania R500 Streamline trucks; the steering was done by truck drivers, but speed and braking were controlled by the front truck using wi-fi technology. The plan is to have fully self driving trucks in the future. This method of coupled drive, based on adaptive cr
    Read More

Highlighted Content