'Autonomous Vehicle' Research Center Pitched For UConn Depot Campus

MANSFIELD, CT — An innovative use for a remote portion of the University of Connecticut's Depot Campus has been proposed — a center to study drivers vehicles.

UConn officials this week said a portion of the Depot Campus could host the region’s first "comprehensive research facility for autonomous vehicles" and "smart cities" transportation planning.

The proposal is "in the earliest stages of discussion," officials said.

UConn's Connecticut Transportation Institute, a subsidiary of the UConn School of Engineering, and Guilford-based Promesa Capital LLC have been developing a concept for a "Connected and Autonomous Vehicle" test track and research facility at the University on the property, school officials said.

The UConn Board of Trustees has approved an option for Promesa to acquire 105 acres, mostly in the southwest part of the Depot Campus. Some portions of the 105-acres bump up to routes 32 and 195, but the "vast majority" of the land sits to the east and is not visible from either road, officials said.

The agreement stipulates that Promesa has nine months — with the option for four extensions — to review the site's suitability, conduct various testing and reviews, and seek zoning approvals with the town of Mansfield. officials said.

If all checks out Promesa could but the land from UConn for $5 million.

Promesa would fund the $30 million facility itself and it would be named named Spectrum Park.

UConn and "possibly other compatible public and private entities" would use the facility in their research and development initiatives in "smart cities" transportation planning, autonomous vehicle testing, energy systems research, and other fields, officials said.

The site was selected because it is "close enough to other parts of UConn Storrs and the Depot Campus to be convenient for researchers, but remote enough that the facility could be designed and operated in a way that would be unobtrusive," officials said.