Designed to become a leading facility for self driving testing, the RELLIS Starlab Facility conducts mobility research and development in a simulated urban and suburban environment.                                                

Impact the future of self driving

At the RELLIS Starlab Facility, we focus our research and deployment efforts in the field of self driving. We improve safety conditions across the industry through mobility research and development in a simulated urban and suburban environment. Ultimately, we aim to become the premier center in the nation to develop, demonstrate and certify vehicles that work in pedestrian-rich neighborhoods.

The Outdoor Facility

The RELLIS Campus Proving Grounds uses 1.2-mile straightaways and urban grid to research autonomous vehicle testing; truck platooning; wrong-way driving; connected work zone; and transit/pedestrian/bicycle testing. Our research shows expertise in infrastructure vehicle controls, robotics, cybersecurity, and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV).

 

There are more than 10 fully automated vehicle platforms available, from golf carts to class 8 trucks, funded by government and commercial clients. Our specialties include localization, perception, cybersecurity, connected automation, and UAVs.

Our Work

We focus on developing and deploying low-speed shuttles on campus, urban environments/downtowns and in other areas. Along with this, we educate the public about the current state of the art in autonomous vehicles as well as the drawbacks. Our goal is to focus on human-vehicle interaction; pedestrian behaviors/interaction; vehicle certification; and large-scale vehicle deployments and interactions for improved safety and trust.

The Goal

We test the balance between autonomy being added to a system combined with reliability and robustness with the situation awareness of human operators and the ability to take over manual control, with the ultimate goal of humans and robots collaborating seamlessly to achieve a mission objective, moving toward full autonomy. We utilize a Human Machine Interface (HMI) Manager that holds abilities to smoothly blend or share autonomy as needed.

Our Work

We focus on developing and deploying low-speed shuttles on campus, urban environments/downtowns and in other areas. Along with this, we educate the public about the current state of the art in autonomous vehicles as well as the drawbacks. Our goal is to focus on human-vehicle interaction; pedestrian behaviors/interaction; vehicle certification; and large-scale vehicle deployments and interactions for improved safety and trust.

The Goal

We test the balance between autonomy being added to a system combined with reliability and robustness with the situation awareness of human operators and the ability to take over manual control, with the ultimate goal of humans and robots collaborating seamlessly to achieve a mission objective, moving toward full autonomy. We utilize a Human Machine Interface (HMI) Manager that holds abilities to smoothly blend or share autonomy as needed.

Human-Machine Interaction & Complemation

RELLIS Starlab Facility completes research in Human-Machine Interaction and complemation (Schutte, 1999) to help make traveling safer by opening new communication channels between a vehicle and its rider(s). Those channels help the vehicle understand how much the rider trusts it and how much the vehicle can trust the rider. This complements human skills and abilities rather than replacing them to establish mutual trust and communication. The STABLE, a public community for professionals to learn about and to discuss emerging ideas in the field, explains this research in further depth.

Get involved & contact us today

Potential government, industry and academic partners interested in connecting with RELLIS StarLab Facility are encouraged to reach out to us.