Jaguars Land Rover Develops 8-Mile Private Testing Facility for Driver-less Cars in Ireland

Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) has partnered with software, mobility and telecoms companies – such as Cisco, Seagate, Renovo, and Red Hat – to develop a 8-mile private road testing facility for driver-less cars near the city of Limerick in Ireland. The smart city mobility ‘hub’ – called The Future Mobility Campus Ireland (FMCI) – will test how self-driving cars can share streets with cars, pedestrians, and cyclists. The Campus will allow start-ups and SMEs to test new innovations in a real-life environment.

“The smart city zone provides a first-class facility for global companies to work together and develop world-leading technology, from autonomous vehicles to connected infrastructure,” says Russell Vickers, CEO of FMCI. “The test bed provides an opportunity to test in the real world and help answer some of the questions posed by the future of mobility in a collaborative and efficient way.”

The testing facility will be equipped with sensors, high-accuracy location systems, smart junctions, a data management and control center, autonomous parking,  electric vehicle charging, and connected roads. The site also has links to a 280 mile (~450 km) stretch of connected highway and a managed air traffic corridor for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).

John Cormican, General Manager for Shannon Ireland Jaguar Land Rover, said: “This partnership with FMCI provides us with a real-world facility to trial our emerging autonomous, connected, electrified and shared technology in a strategic location. Collaborating with top-tier software companies will allow us to develop our future systems more efficiently.”

Future Mobility Campus Ireland is supported under the Department of Business, Enterprise & Innovation’s Regional Enterprise Development fund administered by Enterprise Ireland.