Open-air testing site for automated driving

The Researchlab Automated Driving Delft (RADD) on the TU Delft campus provided room for experimenting with automated transportation in real-life conditions Since its opening in 2017. In 2021 the center will move to Rotterdam at the Future Mobility Park and continue research and expand deployment with industry and governments involved.

Automating the transport of people and goods can help make traffic and transportation more efficient, more accessible, and safer. In order to make automated transportation possible for everyday use, much research is required. This must be conducted in the fields of technology and user acceptance as well as in regards to interacting with other traffic, reacting to unexpected situations, and integrating it into the mobility system. A great deal of research is under way with computer models and in testing laboratories, but in order to acquire truly useful insight in the field, testing is necessary in real-life conditions.

The initiators of RADD are TU Delft, Metropoolregio Rotterdam Den Haag (MRDH - Rotterdam The Hague Metropolitan Area), the Municipality of Delft, and the Province of Zuid-Holland.

The Researchlab is a part of the Fieldlab Automatisch Vervoer Last Mile (AVLM - Last-Mile Automated Transport), a cooperation between governments, knowledge institutions, and small and mid-size business entrepreneurs in the region. The cooperating parties in the Fieldlab AVLM have the ambition to develop the region into a leading international research and practice zone for automated transport and in doing so, to support sustainable economic growth, more job opportunities, and better accessibility and efficiency of the entire transportation system in the region. RADD primarily focuses on sustainable means of transportation, including electric, automated vehicles. With this focus, the Researchlab is contributing to the transition to the use of sustainable energy sources in Zuid-Holland.