Toyota built self-driving test facility in Michigan

Tinuku - Toyota Motor Corp. on Thursday said it is building a closed test facility in Michigan for self-driving vehicle technology that will replicate too dangerous driving scenarios to do on public roads. The facility built by the Toyota Research Institute on Lake Ottawa will begin operations in October.

"This new site will give us the flexibility to adjust the driving scenarios that will push the technological boundaries and move us closer to human-driven vehicles without causing any accidents," said Ryan Eustice, the Toyota Research Institute's senior vice president of automated driving.

General Motors Co. and Alphabet Inc.'s Waymo has been racing to develop self-driving cars and become the first to market with viable products. But the question of the safety of self-driving technology has been in the spotlight after a fatal collision between Uber Technologies Inc's self-driving vehicle and pedestrian in Arizona in March.

Toyota stopped all its own driving tests on public roads in California and Michigan, but continued to test on closed courses. The Toyota Research Institute says tests on public roads have allowed automakers to improve and improve their fleet of test vehicles.