General Motors’ Milford Proving Ground has been in use for over 100 years as a place to test its new cars as well as the technology that they contain. The original 1,125-acre site was purchased by GM in 1923 for slightly more than $100,000. When Milford opened, it had 5 1/2 miles of roads for testing and two buildings on it, with 267 feet of elevation change built in. Since then, the Milford Proving Ground has become the oldest facility dedicated to vehicle testing in the entire world, one of the interesting facts every car enthusiast should know about General Motors.
Today, the Milford Proving Ground spans more than 4,000 acres, with 150 buildings located on the grounds. Milford is located west of Detroit and takes around 45 minutes to drive there from the Motor City. The road inventory at Milford includes 131 miles of paved roadways as well as 16 miles of gravel roads. At last count, a total of 15 million miles have been racked up each year during vehicle testing and development at Milford.
The 131 miles of paved areas and roads within the Milford Proving Ground are highlighted by a 67-acre test area known as “black lake,” so-called for the waterfowl that attempt to land on it thinking it’s a body of water. There’s an oval track nearly 4 miles in length, a straight section without a speed limit, a circular track with banking that’s 4 1/2 miles around, and the Milford Road Course that simulates part of the famous Nurburgring track in Germany.
Interesting automotive features developed at the Milford Proving Ground
A great many automotive advances have been developed at the General Motors Milford Proving Ground. Some of these are vehicle rollover testing in 1934, the first guardrails for roadways, the first automatic transmission to be mass-produced in the 1930s, the first autonomous car concept in 1939, child safety seats in 1969, crash test dummies that have a horrifying history in 1971, catalytic converters to reduce emissions in the 1970s. Not to mention, the Rear Seat Reminder feature in 2017, and Super Cruise in 2018…