September 5, 2018—FCA announced it has invested more than $30 million at its Chelsea Proving Grounds in southeast Michigan to further development and testing of autonomous vehicle and advanced safety technologies. 

The all-new facility, which begins testing programs in September, features a dedicated autonomous highway-speed track, 35-acre safety-feature evaluation area and a high-tech command center.

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 autonomous highway-speed track offers the capability to develop autonomous vehicle systems under a wide range of challenging environments, including obstacles, tunnels, varying road lighting conditions, and interstate-style exit and entrance ramps.

The command center covers more than 6,500 square feet and houses computer equipment vital to GPS capability and test vehicle communication.