Test track for driverless cars ‘could bring 2,000 jobs’
ALMOST 2,000 jobs could be created if a huge test track for autonomous and connected vehicles planned at HORIBA MIRA near Nuneaton is given the green light.
Plans have been submitted for the facility by the Trusted Intelligent Connected Autonomous Vehicle consortium (TIC-IT) to Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council.
The plan is to create a 1.2m sq ft track on 83 acres of land next to HORIBA MIRA’s existing vehicle testing centre at Higham-on-the- Hill between Nuneaton and Hinckley. The scheme is expected to create 250 jobs on the MIRA Technology Park, 205 jobs at the park in indirect sectors, an estimated 100 construction jobs during development and around 1,350 additional jobs in the region.
It would also safeguard 25 existing jobs at MIRA and see the recruitment of around 12 connected and autonomous vehicle researchers, graduates, technicians and apprentices. The application comes following a deal involving HORIBA MIRA and Coventry University in October 2017, which secured £13 million of government funding to establish a new connected and autonomous vehicle (CAV) testing operation.
It enabled HORIBA MIRA and Coventry University to create TIC-IT – as part of a £26million project.
The TIC-IT consortium is also in line to receive grant funding from Innovate UK to establish testing infrastructure. Built on HORIBA MIRA’s Proving Ground alongside its existing tracks, the TICIT test track would see the creation of a purpose built realistic, safe environment for testing CAVs to their limits. Such testing is seen as critical in establishing consumer confidence in the technologies. A planning document with the application reads: “This will constitute the first CAV (connected and autonomous vehicle) testing facility within the UK and will complement the wide MIRA facilities on the site, maximising its attraction to future automotive research and development businesses and existing services.”
The test track would be used 24 hours a day, five days a week.
Speaking last October, Dr Geoff Davis, chief strategy officer at HORIBA MIRA, said: “Developed in partnership with Coventry University, the new facility will bring a unique testing capability to the UK, allowing us to increase the level of activity required to develop CAVs to ensure they are safe and secure for realworld environments.”