Catalonia Living Lab, a public-private project for the development of CAVs, and Aurora Snowbox, the Finnish testing organization, have reached an agreement to collaborate on test drives of connected and automated vehicles on public roads. Noting that there is an imminent need for public road test drives in all weather conditions (including summer and winter), the organizations have agreed to team up for the next two years.
The alliance is expected to be mutually beneficial in strengthening the services provided by both entities and expanding their activities in the field of connected and automated vehicles. As a first step in their collaboration, both companies have aligned their service portfolios and marketing strategies to ensure an identical user experience on both test beds.
A strategic analysis performed within the framework of Catalonia Living Lab resulted in the identification of a series of objectives for testing of CAVs on public roads. The two organizations claim that these objectives respond to the expectations of key stakeholders in the international automotive sector.
They include fitting test vehicles and public roads with dedicated test equipment, use of a centralized control room, employment of professional test drivers and supplying HD maps and digital road representations for virtual simulation. The test setup detailed could be deployed in various regions that together offer the wide variety of weather conditions required for CAV testing and it is hoped the partnership between Catalonia Living Lab and Aurora Snowbox satisfies that demand.
Stefan de Vries, general manager of Catalonia Living Lab, commented, “Thanks to Aurora Snowbox we can cover our clients’ needs for winter testing conditions, for which the options are obviously limited in Catalonia. Aurora Snowbox therefore contributes an essential element to Catalonia Living Lab’s service portfolio on testing of connected and automated vehicles on public roads.”
Reija Viinanen, CEO of Aurora Snowbox, added, “We are happy to start a new collaboration with Catalonia Living Lab, thus expanding our professional network. Hand shaking and strategic teamwork between South and North benefit the self-driving vehicle industry by offering necessary testing environment and facilities above the Arctic Circle and in Spain.”