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September 30, 2024

Proposed self-driving car testing facility at UConn moves forward

By Andrew Larson

UConn’s plan to build a “smart city” and research lab for autonomous vehicles has been revived under a new plan between the state university and a private developer, which was approved by the university’s board of trustees.

On Wednesday, the board voted to approve, among other things, an option agreement between the school and Promesa Capital LLC, enabling Promesa to acquire 15 acres to develop the project on UConn’s Depot Campus in Mansfield.

Promesa would build a simulated smart city for testing connected autonomous vehicles, including crash-test sites and driving environments with intersections, roundabouts, parking lots and ramps.

A connected autonomous vehicle is a self-driving vehicle that communicates with traffic lights and cameras, automatically braking, accelerating and steering under the command of a human.

The total cost of the project is roughly $15 million, including the sale price of the land. Promesa Capital would be responsible for fully funding the land purchase, development and operation of the facility.

The proposed purchase price is $1.5 million.

Previously, the project – first proposed in 2019 – included more than 100 acres.  An option for Promesa to acquire the property was approved by the board of trustees in June 2022. 

However, Promesa determined during its due diligence phase that much of the property was undevelopable due to the presence of wetlands. The option was not exercised and expired in April 2023.

Now, UConn and Promesa want to put the project back on track. 

Promesa has one year to decide whether to purchase the property. It can close on the sale once certain milestones are met. 

About $1 million of the sale price would be placed into escrow at closing and used for environmental remediation, if necessary.

The facility is modeled after a similar concept at the University of Michigan, which has a 32-acre autonomous vehicle testing facility as part of its engineering department.

Promesa’s project would be the first autonomous vehicle and smart city research facility in the region.

UConn’s Depot campus is the former Mansfield Training School.

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