Paving the way for the Autonomous Vehicle Industry to Grow & Thrive

Rutgers Center for Advanced Infrastructure & Transportation (CAIT) is a recognized leader in the field and one of ten Tier I University Transportation Centers (UTC), an elite group of academic research institutions sanctioned and supported by the U.S. Department of Transportation. With support from DEVCO, the City of New Brunswick and Middlesex County, they are establishing the Smart Mobility Testing Ground (SMTG) - a living laboratory for smart mobility and smart city technology R&D in downtown New Brunswick, New Jersey.

The CAIT SMTG corridor will be, the first-of-its-kind smart mobility testbed and databed. The corridor will be equipped with Self-Driving-Grade roadside sensors and computing devices to continuously collect complete coverage of vehicle, pedestrian, and infrastructure data from an urban corridor. A Living Laboratory will be established to convert the collected data into digital twin models and high-resolution field datasets to support R&D in self-driving, connected, and automated vehicle technologies.

Once established as a multi-jurisdiction testing ground, companies will be able to conduct field tests on state and local roads with a streamlined process for certification and approvals, vehicle testing, application piloting, and local agency support. The proposed testing ground will provide opportunities for cross-sector smart mobility and smart city solution development such as transportation, healthcare, and the pharmaceutical industry. The data eco-system to be established in the testing ground will significantly reduce the data acquisition and collection cost for startup companies and R&D teams. It will also provide a potential monetization platform for their own mobility data generated or collected mobility data.

In partnership with Verizon, CAIT is developing an autonomous shuttle program running shuttle routes across medical campuses and communities – with the pilot program launching at the end of 2021. New Brunswick, NJ boasts world-class hospitals including Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital and St. Peter’s University Hospital, to serve over 56,000 residents. The autonomous Verizon shuttles will pave the way for how healthcare transportation technology should (and is) advancing nationwide– and will drastically improve the current healthcare transportation efficiency within New Brunswick.

Middlesex County is a desirable location for this first-of-its-kind living laboratory because it’s directly inside the Northeast mobility corridor – which runs from Boston to D.C.

Middlesex County has a critical mass of expertise and talent from many research centers at Rutgers University and nearby Universities such as Princeton and programs at Middlesex College that can accelerate technology development. Its diverse local workforce can also help fulfill roles such as test drivers, data labelers, and other technical and maintenance support.

The New Brunswick Innovation Hub, as well as other innovation centers and incubators in the County provide streamlined support packages to foster the innovation environment needed for the Autonomous Vehicle Industry. Additionally, Middlesex County’s city innovation hubs and industrial parks can reduce business expenses and employee transportation and living expenses compared with competing larger metropolitan areas. Establishing R&D in smaller and medium cities has become a growing trend – especially since the pandemic. Middlesex County is in close proximity and with easy transportation access to nearby tri-state major metropolitan markets.