On September 25, General Motors (GM) celebrated a major milestone: 100 years of vehicle testing and technological advancements at its Milford Proving Ground in Michigan.
The 2024 GMC Sierra EV underwent truck obstacle during development testing at General Motors’ Milford Proving Ground.
Photo: General Motors
4 min to read
On September 25, General Motors (GM) celebrated a major milestone: 100 years of vehicle testing and technological advancements at its Milford Proving Ground in Michigan. As the world's oldest dedicated vehicle testing facility, Milford has been a cornerstone of GM's commitment to automotive excellence, shaping the future of automotive safety, performance, and innovation.
Strategically located between Flint, Detroit, Lansing, and Pontiac, Milford has grown significantly since its humble beginnings. Originally spanning 1,125 acres with just two buildings and 5.5 miles of test roads, the Proving Ground now covers over 4,000 acres. With over 150 miles of roads, ranging from smooth pavement to rugged gravel, the site is designed to push vehicles to their limits.
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“The Milford Proving Ground is at the heart of GM’s long history of innovation that has revolutionized the auto industry, from safety technology to Super Cruise – it’s where vehicles get better, and it’s where I started my career as a summer intern working on V6 noise and vibration,” said Mark Reuss, president, General Motors. “Today, we celebrate 100 years of Milford and look forward to its next century of leadership in vehicle testing and development.”
Did you know that GM engineers drive more than 15 million testing miles annually on Milford's roads, constantly refining and improving vehicle performance, safety, and durability?
An aerial view of Milford Proving Ground’s road expansion in the 1950’s with an inset image of the original land in the 1920s.
Photo: General Motors
A Hub of Innovation and Technological Advancement
Milford is not just large; its impact on the automotive industry is monumental. From developing groundbreaking safety features to conducting extreme environmental testing, Milford has been pivotal in driving forward the technology found in modern vehicles.
Equipped with advanced facilities that can simulate environmental conditions ranging from -40°F to 130°F, extreme altitudes, and varying humidity and wind speeds, Milford remains on the cutting edge of vehicle testing.
“Black Lake” is a 67-acre lake of asphalt used for dynamic vehicle testing.
Photo: General Motors
One of Milford's standout features is its 67-acre test pad, known as "Black Lake," which is equivalent to 51 football fields. It's used for dynamic vehicle testing in a range of weather conditions, allowing GM to simulate real-world scenarios for improved vehicle performance. Milford is also home to the 2.9-mile Milford Road Course, which emulates sections of famous racetracks worldwide.
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This track, which features 17 turns designed to test specific performance requirements, pushes vehicles to speeds over 150 mph, ensuring every GM vehicle performs under the most challenging conditions.
A Legacy of Firsts: Innovations Born at Milford
Over the last century, Milford has been the birthplace of many industry-changing innovations. GM conducted the first-ever vehicle rollover tests at Milford in 1934, and today, their advanced indoor rollover facility can simulate multiple types of crashes.
In the 1930s, GM engineers at Milford also developed the first mass-produced automatic transmission, the Hydra-Matic, a significant breakthrough in automotive history.
The Proving Ground was pivotal in GM's early experiments with autonomous driving technology. In 1939, GM showcased one of the first autonomous car concepts at the World's Fair in New York, and by the 1950s, GM was testing a self-driving Chevy that followed a cable embedded in a Milford test track.
Fast forward to 2016, and GM and Cruise began testing the fully autonomous Chevy Bolt at the same location, marking another milestone in autonomous vehicle development.
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Milford has also been integral in safety advancements. Today's guardrails commonly seen on roads were first developed at the Proving Ground to keep vehicles from veering into oncoming traffic. The site has over 130 miles of these guardrails, highlighting their continued importance in modern vehicle testing.
Additionally, GM's crash testing program, which has completed thousands of tests at Milford, was a key player in developing the Hybrid III crash test dummy — the most widely used model today.
Other innovations born at Milford include the catalytic converter, a major breakthrough in reducing vehicle emissions, and the Rear Seat Reminder feature, which helps drivers remember to check the back seat before exiting the vehicle — first rolled out in the 2017 GMC Acadia.
More recently, Milford has been the home base for testing GM's Super Cruise, the world's first hands-free driver assistance technology, which debuted in 2018. By 2025, Super Cruise's coverage will expand to more than 750,000 miles of roads across the U.S. and Canada.
Milford has completed thousands of vehicle tests using crash test dummies, with the GM-developed Hybrid III model becoming the most-used dummy model in the world.
Photo: General Motors
A Bright Future Ahead
As GM marks 100 years of testing at the Milford Proving Ground, its legacy of innovation shows no signs of slowing. The Proving Ground continues to be a vital part of GM's vehicle development process, ensuring that each new generation of cars, trucks, and SUVs is safer, more efficient, and packed with cutting-edge technology.
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With its rich history of automotive milestones and its continued role in shaping the future of vehicle development, Milford remains at the heart of GM's mission to deliver vehicles that meet and exceed the demands of today's drivers.
Here's to the next century of innovation at Milford.
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