Intel, OSU to Help Test Self-Driving Cars in Central Ohio

It looks like the Smart City will be getting even smarter.

Wind River, an Intel Corp. subsidiary, announced Wednesday it will partner with Ohio State, the city of Dublin and the Transportation Research Center to develop and test autonomous vehicle technologies in Central Ohio.

The project will look to "increase the pace, quality and development, testing, and deployment of self-driving and other connected vehicle technologies," per a press release.

Initially, the project aims to develop and test autonomous vehicles, or "rolling laboratories." Much of the testing will take place at the Transportation Research Center (TRC), a vehicle testing hub outside of Marysville with some 4,500 acres of road courses.

“The Central Ohio region is an emerging hub for smart city and smart vehicle technologies, and our unique ensemble approach – uniting minds from academia, the public sector, and the tech industry—can set a standard for how communities can innovate mobility and use the learnings to impact vehicle development and deployment best practices,” Marques McCammon, general manager of Connected Vehicle Solutions at Wind River, said in the press release.

The press release also cites the "Smart Mobility Corridor," a 35-mile stretch of highway starting in Dublin that ODOT plans to equip with fiber optic cablesused for data collection. A $6 million grant shared by Dublin, Marysville and Union County will fund that project.

Wind River's announcement comes just under a year after the federal Department of Transportation awarded Columbus a $40 million Smart City grant aimed, in part, at advancing autonomous vehicle technologies. 

For more information of Wind River, click here