{"id":25128,"date":"2022-09-17T16:09:03","date_gmt":"2022-09-17T20:09:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/?p=25128"},"modified":"2022-09-17T16:09:54","modified_gmt":"2022-09-17T20:09:54","slug":"suntrax-test-track-progresses-near-the-finish-line","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/2022\/09\/17\/suntrax-test-track-progresses-near-the-finish-line\/","title":{"rendered":"SunTrax Test Track progresses near the finish line"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The state-of-the-art test track where autonomous vehicles can be tested, under numerous scenarios, from stopping for pedestrians to navigating through storms is well underway.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1110px) 100vw, 1110px\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/SunTrax-1-1024x768-1.jpg?resize=1024%2C768&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-25129\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/SunTrax-1-1024x768-1.jpg?w=1024&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/SunTrax-1-1024x768-1.jpg?resize=300%2C225&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/SunTrax-1-1024x768-1.jpg?resize=768%2C576&amp;ssl=1 768w\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">SunTrax, being developed by Florida\u2019s Turnpike Enterprise under the Florida Department of Transportation, is situated on 475 acres in Lakeland near the Florida Polytechnic University.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The multi-lane track will make SunTrax the only high-speed autonomous vehicle (AV) testing facility in the southeastern United States and the only high-speed track in the world to offer tolling simulation, handling speeds of up to 70 miles per hour. In the infield, there will be multiple simulated transportation environments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The construction for the entire facility kicked off in 2017 and initially had a summer 2022 opening date.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/jxndNnXOfhM\" title=\"YouTube video player\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">However, the entire SunTrax center is not fully operational yet, and \u2013 it\u2019s now on track to be completed in early 2023.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The construction of the facility was broken into two phases. Phase 1 construction started in 2017 and entailed building the 2.25-mile oval test track, which has been operational since June 2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe have conducted important transportation technology testing over the last several years, including toll technology testing, safety testing and other automated and connected vehicle application testing,\u201d a SunTrax spokesperson said in an emailed statement.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Phase 2 of the project was for the construction of the 200-acre infield. Construction started in January 2020. The build-out of the infield features various testing environments, including a geometry track, a loop track, a reconfigurable simulated urban environment, a pick-up\/drop-off area, a harshness testing area, a technology pad and wet test tracks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The technology is made to replicate different weather scenarios, as well to test how a self-driving vehicle could successfully navigate the situations.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Florida\u2019s Turnpike Enterprise also constructed the main entry campus, featuring a 20,000-square-foot arrival and conference center as well as offices, classrooms and indoor and outdoor event spaces. The complex also features a 27,000-square-foot maintenance building, 56,000-square-foot workshop buildings and a 75-foot-tall observation tower to view the vehicles as they navigate the different testing environments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The construction cost for the project is $141.2 million.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The state-of-the-art test track where autonomous vehicles can be tested, under numerous scenarios, from stopping for pedestrians to navigating through storms is well underway.&nbsp; SunTrax, being developed by Florida\u2019s Turnpike&hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":25129,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"0","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","inline_featured_image":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"wpai_generated_summary":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","default_image_id":71799,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[9],"tags":[3428],"class_list":["post-25128","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","tag-suntrax-test-track-progresses-near-the-finish-line"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25128","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25128"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25128\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25129"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25128"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25128"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25128"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}