UW-Madison’s Traffic Operations and Safety Laboratory and Akron, N.Y.-based MGA Research spearheaded an effort to bring researchers testing autonomous vehicles to Wisconsin.
“There are still a lot of questions of safety and human interaction and plenty of technological challenges that need addressing,” said Peter Rafferty, a program manager at the TOPS Lab. “The Department of Transportation wants to make sure the lessons learned in that work are being shared, and being involved in this network means Wisconsin has access to that knowledge and an opportunity to contribute.”
The proving grounds doesn’t only include the UW campus, though. It also encompasses the Epic Systems campus in Verona, Wis., MGA Research’s Burlington, Wis., site and Road America, a racing circuit in Plymouth, Wis. The AVs will be tested in a variety of conditions at each of the locations.
“There’s evidence of unmet demand for these proving grounds — controlled roads where you can safely challenge a vehicle and figure out how to make it react differently to a big rock in its way than it would to a shopping bag in the street or to tell the difference between the ruts that develop in new snow and broken pavement,” said Mr. Rafferty.
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