Fiat Chrysler ramps up self-drive tech with launching of $30M testing facility
Fiat Chrysler Automobiles is adding more muscle to its self-driving vehicle-testing efforts.
The company will spend more than $30 million at a new testing and development facility at its Chelsea Proving Grounds west of Detroit. Testing begins this month at the facility, which will include a “dedicated autonomous highway-speed track, 35-acre safety-feature evaluation area and a high-tech command center,” according to a company news release.
It’s the second self-driving vehicle-related announcement the company has made in recent weeks. Last month, FCA said its Magneti Marelli components business would acquire a French startup — StartMeUp — focused on self-driving car software, for an undisclosed price.
The twin announcements follow the release in June of the company’s five-year plan, where it dedicated a presentation to the company’s self-driving and connected vehicle efforts.
That presentation highlighted the company’s focus in developing the technology through partnerships, such as by supplying up to 62,000 Chrysler Pacifica Hybrids to Waymo’s self-driving project by 2021.
Former CEO Sergio Marchionne, who died in July, had pushed back against critics for suggesting that the company was a laggard in the development of self-driving technology, saying last year that FCA’s approach gives the company a chance to get a “technically correct solution at a commercially defensible price.”
New CEO Mike Manley said in a news release that the Chelsea facility would “help support and enable” the rollout of the fiveyear plan.
“Our ability to test for autonomous and advanced safety technologies enables FCA to offer our customers the features they want across our brand portfolio,” Manley said in the release.
The release noted that the facility “will allow for testing of various levels of autonomy and enables the company to evaluate FCA vehicles using test protocols from third parties, such the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), U.S. New Car Assessment Program (NCAP) and European New Car Assessment Program (EuroNCAP), plus additional automatic electronic brake test simulations.”
The test track will provide a range of environments, including obstacles, tunnels, varying road lighting conditions and interstate-style exit and entrance ramps, the release said.
Dianna Gutierrez, an FCA spokeswoman, said the company anticipates that new positions will be created as a result of the new facility, but is not disclosing the numbers or types of positions. The company does not currently test at two other self-driving test facilities in the region — the American Center for Mobility or Mcity.