December 11th, 2018
12:00 PM

Centrally located between Tampa and Orlando in Polk County, Florida, SunTrax is a large-scale, state-of-the-art facility being developed by the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT), Florida’s Turnpike Enterprise (FTE) dedicated to the research, development and testing of emerging transportation technologies in safe and controlled environments.   

SunTrax is situated on 475 acres and is composed of a 2.25-mile-long oval test track around a 200-acre infield. The multi-lane track will make it the only high-speed autonomous vehicle (AV) testing facility in the southeastern United States. In the infield, there will be multiple simulated transportation environments, including:  

• An urban area to simulate intersection configurations and complex lighting, signing, and signalization conditions

• A roadway geometry track made up of complex horizontal and vertical curves, plus irregular grade changes

• A pick-up/drop-off area to replicate various multi-modal passenger transfers, such as airports and transit centers. 

The high-speed oval track is scheduled for completion in spring 2019, with the entire facility being complete in spring 2021.