Curiosity Lab at Peachtree Corners today announced its strategic collaboration with Georgia Tech and Delta Air Lines to advance autonomous vehicle and infrastructure research. Curiosity Lab is a 5G enabled autonomous vehicle and smart city living laboratory located in Peachtree Corners, Georgia, a northern suburb of Atlanta.
As Georgia furthers its position as a leading testbed of autonomous mobility and smart city technology, Delta and Curiosity Lab’s collaboration will provide critical seed funding for Georgia Tech researchers. Equally important, the researchers will have access to the Lab’s one-and-a-half-mile autonomous vehicle test track and living laboratory. Curiosity Lab features dedicated fiber, smart poles and a network operations center for researchers to track and trend data from connected internet-of-things (IoT) devices.
“Our 5G-enabled living laboratory will give Georgia Tech researchers the opportunity to push the frontier of emerging technology in a real-world setting that is almost impossible to replicate in a closed lab,” said Betsy Plattenburg, executive director of Curiosity Lab at Peachtree Corners. “Curiosity Lab also will provide those researchers an opportunity to collaborate with other industry leaders and focus their research on immediate challenges and results.”
“This is a wonderful example of industry-university-local government coming together to advance innovative solutions to the built environment and mobility,” said Debra Lam, managing director for smart cities and inclusive innovation at Georgia Tech. “Providing access to such infrastructure will help our researchers test new technologies and further our mission of serving our community through innovation.”
“Driving the leading edge of emerging technology – like we’ve done with biometrics by launching the first fully biometric terminal in the United States – means Delta can help shape how industry adopts it,” said Gil West, Delta’s Chief Operating Officer. “Autonomous vehicle technology is one of those innovations we see as having the potential to improve employee safety, the customer experience and operational performance, and this partnership will help us explore all of those possibilities.”
As autonomous vehicle research advances across the world, Delta sees potential applications for autonomous cars, trucks or buses at airports and beyond. For example, autonomous vehicles could help customers make tight connections across an airport, they could deliver delayed baggage to customers or transport aircraft parts to airports.
West added that this program is an important part of the global airline’s strategy to invest in solutions that empower customers and employees, reduce the stresses of travel and redefine flying over the next five years and decades to come.
About Curiosity Lab at Peachtree Corners
Curiosity Lab is a 5G enabled autonomous vehicle and smart city living laboratory located in Peachtree Corners, Georgia, a northern suburb of Atlanta. The centerpiece of the lab is a 1.5-mile test and demo track which provides a real-world environment to explore emerging technologies. Additional infrastructure includes a network operations center, smart poles, DSRC units, dedicated fiber and a 25,000 square foot tech incubator. Additional information can be found at www.curiositylabptc.com
About Georgia Tech
The Georgia Institute of Technology provides a focused, technologically based education to more than 32,000 undergraduate and graduate students. Georgia Tech has many nationally recognized programs, all top-ranked by peers and publications alike, and is ranked in the nation’s top 10 public universities by U.S. News and World Report. It offers degrees through the Colleges of Computing, Design, Engineering, Sciences, the Scheller College of Business, and the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts. As a leading technological university, Georgia Tech has more than 100 centers focused on interdisciplinary research that consistently contribute vital research and innovation to American government, industry, and business. Additional information can be found at: http://www.smartcities.gatech.edu/ and on Twitter via @GtScii
About Delta Air Lines
Delta Air Lines (NYSE: DAL) is the U.S. global airline leader in products, services, innovation, reliability and customer experience. Powered by its 80,000 people around the world, Delta continues to invest billions in its people, delivering a world-class travel experience and generating industry-leading shareholder returns. With its constant drive to invest, innovate and expand, Delta today is the world’s No. 1 airline by total revenues. More about Delta can be found on Delta News Hub as well as delta.com, via @DeltaNewsHub on Twitter and Facebook.com/delta.
Media Contact: Jacob Hamilton
O: 404.929.0091 ext. 203
M: 678.863.9860jhamilton@arketi.com
