Empty Boston marina sees self-driving (autonomous) cars put the test.
An empty marina is playing host to testing self-driving cars in a bid to see how the technology works before heading out onto public highways.
According to reports from the Boston Herald, owners of a plot of undeveloped land at the Raymond L. Flynn Marine Park have allowed the land to be used for testing of autonomous cars. The land was paved but unused enabling companies to test out autonomous car technology away from normal traffic.
Tom Miller, the vice president of Kavanaugh Advisory Group, told the newspaper that using the empty land was “a great idea, and if an opportunity comes and we have a location where we could do it again, we’d do it in a heartbeat.”
However, the testing is coming to an end as building work starts on the land to build and a new 360,000-square-foot building complex that will house office, lab and research and development space.
The closure means that eyes are now on city and state officials to consider ways of enabling the testing of autonomous vehicles on public roads. Testing could start in the next few weeks.
As well as those efforts, a local school for the blind has also investigated how self-driving cars can help the blind travels long distances by themselves.
Collaboration on autonomous cars
Toyota has collaborated with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in a $25 million project to map an area in Cambridge, Mass. In preparation for testing self-driving vehicles.
One firm, Optimus Ride is currently running tests of the technology on the roads in the state. The state is said to be an ideal place to test the technology as it has complex roads, unpredictable drivers and inclement weather.
Dale Green, marketing director at Digital Realty, told Internet of Business that driverless cars could potentially fall at the first hurdle without blanket Wi-Fi and impermeable connectivity foundations.
“At the moment, we lose coverage on our phones in what we would consider to be well-connected routes through the country and until these details are addressed, mass market rollout, even in 2021 could be viewed as a mere pipe dream,” he said.