Plan announced to build drivers' research and development centre

Plans have been announced for a transport technology research and development (R&D) ‘centre of excellence’ in the UK.

The venture aims to build a centre where controlled studies can be carried out in areas such as traffic management and vehicle technologies including adaptive calibration, in an attempt to improve environmental efficiency and reduce traffic congestion.

The R&D centre will be run in collaboration between automotive test and development centre MIRA, the UK Transport Research Laboratory and innovITS, the UK centre of excellence for Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS).

Phil Pettitt, chief executive officer of innovITS, said: “Our aim is that [the project] will become the international centre for connecting vehicles, highways and telecommunications, facilitating the rapid introduction of intelligent transport technologies with considerable benefits for industry and society as a whole.”

The Warwickshire centre is estimated to cost €30 million (£24 million), with the first phase of the project expected to open for business in summer 2009 and include a reconstruction of a ‘city’ circuit – an artificial construction of roads and junctions that will enable testing in a variety of modern urban environments.