Skip to main content

innovITS ADVANCE facility transferred to MIRA

The operation of the UK’s innovITS-ADVANCE facility, dedicated to the testing and demonstration of cooperative vehicle infrastructure systems, has been transferred to automotive design and development organisation MIRA. The transition is being made to provide the most sustainable future for this important ITS resource and assure its continuing success. In the five years since its inception, innovITS-ADVANCE has delivered a world class facility that is purpose-built for testing telematics systems. The comb
April 12, 2013 Read time: 2 mins
The operation of the UK’s 67 innovITS-ADVANCE facility, dedicated to the testing and demonstration of cooperative vehicle infrastructure systems, has been transferred to automotive design and development organisation 4310 Mira.  The transition is being made to provide the most sustainable future for this important ITS resource and assure its continuing success.

In the five years since its inception, innovITS-ADVANCE has delivered a world class facility that is purpose-built for testing telematics systems.  The combined efforts of innovITS and its collaborators MIRA and TRL have delivered a vision that has been declared a valuable and necessary resource for developing the next generation of telematics systems for use on our roads. Now firmly established, the sale to MIRA of the assets and business of innovITS ADVANCE will provide a future in which the facility can grow and evolve to remain a national resource for the development, validation and demonstration of technologies for interconnecting vehicles, highways and telecommunications.

Commenting on the announcement of the new phase of operation, innovITS CEO Phil Pettitt said: “We were the right organisation to create this facility and bring it into operation but now it is best for its continuing success to hand on the baton to MIRA who can nurture and grow its potential into the future.”

MIRA’s CEO George Gillespie commented “MIRA has been heavily involved in the creation of ADVANCE over the past 5 years and we are pleased to have the opportunity now to take the facility forward as part of our comprehensive portfolio of vehicle engineering and testing facilities. ADVANCE is a unique facility that addresses the development and validation needs of the emerging Intelligent Mobility technologies and strengthens the UK’s position in this important sector. MIRA will continue to work with TRL in an on-going collaboration to maximise the potential of ADVANCE.”

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Euro road safety at heart of DFRS and Euro NCAP collaboration
    May 21, 2025
    Two organisations signed MoU at 16th ITS European Congress in Seville
  • Q&A: Why has Almaviva bought Iteris?
    January 17, 2025
    US-based ITS sector veteran Iteris has been bought for $335m by Italian digital specialist Almaviva. But who exactly is the new owner and what does it want? Adam Hill finds out…
  • Machine vision - cameras for intelligent traffic management
    January 25, 2012
    For some, machine vision is the coming technology. For others, it’s already here. Although it remains a relative newcomer to the ITS sector, its effects look set to be profound and far-reaching. Encapsulating in just a few short words the distinguishing features of complex technologies and their operating concepts can sometimes be difficult. Often, it is the most subtle of nuances which are both the most important and yet also the most easily lost. Happily, in the case of machine vision this isn’t the case:
  • Governments must look beyond short-term spending of public funds
    February 2, 2012
    Phil Pettitt, Chief Executive of innovITS, the UK's ITS Centre of Excellence, argues that governments need to look beyond the short-term when looking to pump-prime economic recovery with public funds. It seems, in the current economic climate, that a 'good' day is one in which no company is announcing job cuts or going into administration. Consumer demand is down and businesses are retrenching, cutting costs and fretting over the consequences of shrinking opportunities and order books. It has not been this