Hartford Business Journal

14 HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM | OCTOBER 14, 2024 Steve Cortese is leading efforts to build a $15 million autonomous vehicle testing facility and research center on UConn's Depot Campus in Storrs (shown in background). HBJ PHOTO | STEVE LASCHEVER Testing Ground Here's how a mostly vacant UConn property could help advance self-driving vehicle technology and make roads safer before, and he can see "the light at the end of the tunnel." "The Promised Land is a research facility where our partners/users will join us in this quest to make our roads and our intersections safer for drivers, bikers and pedestrians, where we will further the science of connected autonomous vehicles," Cortese said. "If the cars are going to be driving, they need to do a really good job of communicating with what is around them." 'Mutually beneficial relationship' Though his main motivating factor is to make the roads safer, there is a financial component as well. Promesa will acquire the land and provide funding for the project, estimated to cost about $15 million. No public funds will be required. Cortese said securing the funding "won't be a problem," even if costs exceed $15 million. Promesa has partnerships with multiple companies, but Cortese declined to name them, citing confidentiality agreements. "We have been in talks with many different vendors who are in this vertical, who would be very pleased to participate in what we're trying to do," Cortese said. The option agreement states that Promesa would own and operate the facility when construction is completed. The facility would generate revenue by charging a fee to car manufacturers, vendors and other entities that use the testing site, including UConn. Jackson said UConn may be able to use grant money and federal funding to cover usage fees. "A mutually beneficial relation- ship will develop between UConn and the developer," Jackson said. "Nothing has really been formalized at this point." It would be the first testing facility of its kind in the Northeast, and the first privately developed one in the country. There are similar venues at the University of Michigan and Virginia Tech, but they are owned by the schools. The project site is located in a federally designated Opportunity Zone, which offers substantial tax benefits. An Opportunity Zone allows investors to defer, or even eliminate, capital gains. Jackson, who leads the Connecticut Transportation Insti- tute, is advising Cortese on the project and hopes to use the facility for research and teaching purposes in conjunction with the school's engineering department. There is demand for autonomous vehicle testing in the region, Jackson said, as New York City and Boston companies working to develop the technology seek nearby testing sites. "There are a lot of tech startups that are developing a wide variety of technologies and would love to be able to test them in this region," Jackson said. He believes self-driving cars could By Andrew Larson alarson@hartfordbusiness.com I magine a world without speeding tickets, preventable crashes and insurance claims for damaged vehicles — and without emergencies and deaths on roadways. That's the future Steve Cortese, managing partner of Promesa Capital LLC, wants to help become a reality through a deal with the Univer- sity of Connecticut. In late September, UConn's board of trustees approved an option agree- ment with Promesa that gives the Guilford-based investment company up to a year to acquire 15 acres on the university's Depot Campus in Mansfield for a self-driving vehicle testing facility. Cortese owns Promesa and is its only employee. The project involves building a simulated "smart city" and research lab for testing connected autono- mous vehicles — self-driving vehicles that communicate with traffic lights and cameras, in addition to each other. The vehicles can drive without the need for a human driver to brake, accelerate and steer. Promesa will use the existing infra- structure and roadways on the prop- erty, including six buildings that were part of the former Mansfield Training School. The brick buildings, which are in poor condition, are protected by the State Historic Preservation Office. The facility would include crash- test sites and driving environments with intersections, roundabouts, parking lots and ramps, but Promesa has not yet completed design plans. Under the proposal, Promesa can purchase the land from UConn for $1.5 million. About $1 million of the proceeds would be placed into escrow at closing and used for envi- ronmental remediation, if necessary. The project is a scaled-down version of an earlier proposal, which included more than 100 acres. Cortese and UConn engineering professor Eric Jackson first broached the idea of creating the autonomous vehicle testing site in 2019. The original plan included a three-quarter mile racetrack, but it has been removed since Promesa determined much of the property contained wetlands. "Teaching a car to do 80 miles per hour on a highway and not hit the car in front or behind it is easy," Cortese said. "I mean, there's a straight road, there's no turns, so that became less important for us. What we really want to focus on is more of the urban landscape, the pedestrian safety, the bicycle safety." Over the next year, Cortese said he will finalize design plans and submit a zoning application to the town of Mansfield. Once he receives approval, he plans to exercise his option to buy the land. Construction could take two to three years. If the project timetable were compared to a baseball game, he said "we're currently in the fifth or sixth inning." That also means the project is closer to becoming a reality than ever *Deaths are as of Oct. 2 of each year. | Source: UConn's Connecticut Crash Data Repository CT TRAFFIC DEATHS 2021 2022 2023 2024 D E AT H S * 300 250 200 150 100 50 0

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