New £26m MIRA track could bring 1,800 jobs
A huge £26 million track could be built in the countryside to test driverless cars at speeds of up to 155mph – creating about 1,800 jobs.
If it gets planning permission, the 1.2 million sq ft track would be half a mile long with a 330-yard-wide circular area at the top.
It would be used for companies to test autonomous – driverless – vehicles at the very limits of their capabilities.
It would also be used to improve connected vehicles, which talk wirelessly with each other and with objects such as road signs and signals to work out what is going on around them.
Planning documents suggest it could lead to:
An additional 250 high-value jobs at MIRA Technology Park. About 100 construction jobs while it is built. About 1,350 additional jobs created in the region as a result of the facility. The safeguarding of 25 jobs. Two new orientated companies in MIRA Technology Park per year. Horiba MIRA wants to build it on 83 acres next to its vehicle testing centre at Higham on the Hill. There would also be a two- storey control room.
The site already has an enterprise zone with many of the world’s top manufacturers developing new technologies there – and is a leading centre for testing driverless and intelligent vehicles.
The type of testing that could be done there could include:
Individual driverless cars driving at 155mph.
Five cars at a time driving in unison at over 85mph.
Five trucks closely following each other at over 60mph.
Individual military vehicles driving about at 40mph.
Ford, Jaguar Land Rover and Tata Motors have already used MIRA to test their own driver- less cars, before taking the tests into real-life conditions on the streets of Coventry.
Horiba MIRA has teamed up with Coventry University for the Trusted Intelligent Connected Autonomous Vehicle, TIC-IT, for its latest plans.
It wants to support car, motorbike, lorry, bus and military vehicle developers from around the world, making the UK a global-leader in taking the new technology from the drawing board to the showroom.
MIRA experts have been working on unmanned military vehicles since 2002, even winning competitions for remote controlled systems to look for improvised explosive devices.
The new track would be one of four big driverless car testing schemes in the region, costing
£81 million to deliver, including
£51 million funding.
All four are being overseen by a partnership of specialists called Meridian.
The MIRA/university scheme has now gone to Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council for planning permission.
It is believed work would get under way quickly, assuming planning is given, because of the demand for new testing facilities from manufacturers. of government