Suburban Sector
Suburban Replica
The Suburban sector is located in the west-central portion of the site and is a continuation of the real-world street simulation of the facility’s Urban environment. It includes configurations for a four-lane roundabout, a two-lane residential street with multiple closely spaced driveways, road-damaged asphalt, and a multi-lane arterial street. This equates to over 130,000 ft² (12,077.40 m²) of pavement to assess the functionality of autonomous technologies in a variety of everyday situations.
The two-lane, two-way, slow-speed roadway, with intentionally road-damaged asphalt, mimics roadway wear and tear that can lead to road-induced vibrations. This section measures 500 ft long (152.40 m) by 12 ft wide (3.65 m), and features 50 randomly spaced pavement patches, with patch lengths ranging from 1 ft (.30 m) to 8 ft long (2.40 m). Patch heights relative to the surrounding pavement range from -1.50 in. (-3.80 cm) to +0.50 in. (+1.25 cm).