Skip to main content

TRC launches smart mobility advanced research and test centre

The US state of Ohio and the Ohio State University are funding the US$45 million Phase 1 expansion of the Transportation Research Center's (TRC) new 540-acre SMART (Smart Mobility Advanced Research and Test) Center. To to be built within the 4,500 acres of the TRC’s independent automotive testing facility and proving grounds, SMART aims to be a hub for testing of automated and autonomous vehicles, designed to enable car manufacturers and suppliers to expand their testing. Phase 1 of the expansion will in
January 27, 2017 Read time: 2 mins
The US state of Ohio and the Ohio State University are funding the US$45 million Phase 1 expansion of the Transportation Research Center's (TRC) new 540-acre SMART (Smart Mobility Advanced Research and Test) Center. To to be built within the 4,500 acres of the TRC’s independent automotive testing facility and proving grounds, SMART aims to be a hub for testing of automated and autonomous vehicles, designed to enable car manufacturers and suppliers to expand their testing.

Phase 1 of the expansion will include a flexible platform and infrastructure; a high-speed intersection; a flexible test platform; an urban network of intersections, roundabouts, traffic signals; a rural network including wooded roads, neighbourhood network and a SMART Center support building.

TRC has been testing different types of vehicles and components on its 4,500-acre facility for more than 40 years, including testing automated and autonomous vehicles over the last two decades.  It provides a convenient location to safely test new technologies before their use on city streets and highways in support of Columbus's $140 million 324 US Department of Transportation (USDOT) Smart City project.

Funding efforts are underway for Phases 2 and 3 of the. Phase 2 will focus on the world's first indoor test facility, which will enable rigorous testing of highly automated vehicles in severe weather conditions.  Phase 3 will include a six-lane high-speed highway, with on and off ramps and underpasses, to support the testing of vehicle swarming and truck platooning.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • AstaZero unveils AV test track in Sweden
    May 3, 2021
    Autonomous transport testing facility can 'streamline' vehicle development, partners say
  • Accelerating Smart Mobility with Beter Benutten ITS
    March 21, 2016
    The Netherlands’ Beter Benutten programme is focused on ITS deployment and smart mobility. Beter Benutten (Optimising Use) is a programme run by the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment focused on ITS deployment and smart mobility that actively encourages cooperation between the private sector, users and the government. The Netherlands has clear ambitions to foster innovation, strengthen its competitive position and be a frontrunner in the area of cooperative ITS, self-driving cars and smart
  • WIM system certification is a complex business
    February 21, 2018
    There are interesting moves afoot to create Germany’s first Weigh-In-Motion enforcement site in Hamburg – but Florian Weiss of Traffic Data Systems warns that WIM certification is a complex business. In the past, Weigh-In-Motion (WIM) was mainly used for statistical (WIM-S) and pre-selection (WIM-P) applications. These abbreviations - as well as WIM-E (enforcement) and WIM-T (tolling) - were created by Traffic Data Systems during Intertraffic 2006 in Amsterdam. This was also the year when we started the
  • Close shave for Brazilian project
    June 12, 2015
    Signing the order to equip a new control room just 45 days before the city hosts a major sporting event is challenging - but some deadlines just cannot be moved. There is nothing like a deadline to concentrate minds and effort as Mitsubishi and the Brazilian city of Belo Horizonte discovered in the run-up to the 2014 World Cup. Although municipal authorities had been considering a new command centre for years, it was the hosting of the World Cup last summer that provided the final impetus.