GM Opens New Testing Ground for Safety Technology

General Motors has opened a new 52-acre Active Safety Test Area at its Milford Proving Ground near Detroit.

The American automaker promises to offer 22 different active safety technologies across its 2016 model year U.S. lineups, and will be using the new Active Safety Test Area to develop those technologies. Expect features ranging from driver alerts to those that automatically intervene to assist drivers in critical situations to find their way into future vehicles manufactured by General Motors.

The company shared some of the crash-avoidance features it is currently working on, which includes City Speed Front Automatic Braking, Front Pedestrian Braking, Rear Camera Mirror, Night Vision and Curb View Camera. Within the new Active Safety Test Area, the automaker has a 16-acre dynamics pad to test a variety of robot-controlled and automated vehicles, highway simulation with six lanes, a parking test area with different curb types, a pedestrian test area with 90-degree traffic intersection, a simulated tunnel with walls and posts, and a building for observation and indoor testing.

SEE ALSO: Mcity Opens for Development of Connected, Driverless Cars

The facility will also be home for testing of vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) technologies, which will come standard on the upcoming 2017 Cadillac CTS.

The move is similar to the new Mcity that recently opened up, focusing on the development of connected and driverless cars.

“Our comprehensive safety strategy of helping customers before, during and after a crash continues,” said Jeff Boyer, vice president of GM Global Vehicle Safety. “GM historically has been a leader in the development and testing of safety technologies, and applying our deep knowledge and expertise to prevent crashes from happening in the first place.”

Discuss this story at our General Motors Forum