Toyota Motor North America subsidiary Toyota Research Institute (TRI) is planning to build a new closed-course test facility to accelerate the development of its automated vehicle technology.

The new test facility will be built on a 60-acre site at Michigan Technical Resource Park (MITRP) in Ottawa Lake.

TRI will be leasing the 60-acre land space MITRP and will be responsible for the design, construction and maintenance of the facility.

TRI automated driving senior vice-president Ryan Eustice said: “By constructing a course for ourselves, we can design it around our unique testing needs and rapidly advance capabilities, especially with Toyota Guardian automated vehicle mode.

“This new site will give us the flexibility to customise driving scenarios that will push the limits of our technology and move us closer to conceiving a human-driven vehicle that is incapable of causing a crash.”

“We believe that this relationship will be a proven winner.”

The TRI facility will be constructed within MITRP’s 1.75-mile oval test track, and will feature congested urban environments, slick surfaces and a four-lane divided highway with high-speed entrance and exit ramps.

In addition to oval track, TRI will also have the access to other on-site facilities and services, which are owned by MITRP and provided to all its customers.

MITRP president Mike Jones said: “We are very excited about the partnership with TRI.

“We believe that this relationship will be a proven winner.”

Upon completion in October this year, the new site is expected to further enhance TRI’s closed-course testing capabilities.

TRI intends to use the new site to safely replicate demanding ‘edge case’ driving scenarios, too dangerous to perform on public roads.