Curiosity Lab Ribbon opens America’s first 5G-powered Smart City Tech Proving Ground

The City of Peachtree Corners celebrated the grand opening of Curiosity Lab at Peachtree Corners, America’s first intelligent mobility and smart city living laboratory powered by cutting-edge infrastructure and Sprint’s True Mobile 5G– where companies will prove out Internet of Things (IoT/connected device) applications and technologies that will change the way people live and the way businesses operate in the near future.

“Companies that are paving the way forward with next-generation IoT technologies have been missing one step in the development process: a living laboratory environment to test the technology that has graduated from a controlled laboratory environment,” said Brian Johnson, City Manager for Peachtree Corners. “Curiosity Lab at Peachtree Corners provides a first-of-its-kind, real-world testing environment to prove out these technologies - creating realistic conditions that enable robotics, artificial intelligence solutions, autonomous services and countless more use cases to be optimized and ultimately scaled for the suburban and urban landscapes of tomorrow.”

At the opening event, Local Motors' Olli, the world's first co-created, self-driving, electric shuttle, transported guests. Autonomous drones developed by Autonodyne and Valqari demonstrated package deliveries. Tortoise showcased its teleoperated e-scooters. South Korean automaker Kia's HabaNiro concept car featuring all-electric design showcased its augmented reality experiences and autonomous driving capabilities. Kia Telluride's autonomous technologies were also put to the test. Mercedes-Benz also showcased its MBUX at the event. Valmont Industries installed smart light poles with built-in connectivity as a part of the smart city infrastructure.

At the Smart City, future technologies will come alive with Sprint's groundbreaking connectivity, designed specifically for smart cities and IoT technologies. Curiosity IoT, a dedicated low latency network, coupled with an operating system purpose-built for IoT/connected devices and complemented by LTE/5G/LPWA Cat M connectivity will be a part of the city's connectivity solutions. The city is designed to generate invaluable business intelligence from massive amounts of test data generated by IoT devices

Georgia Power will be instrumental in the development of the lab by delivering smart power solutions for electric vehicle charging, smart streetlights and more.

A 1.5-mile track for testing autonomous vehicles and machines, complete with next-generation infrastructure - such as “smart pole” solutions and other fixtures with built-in sensors/small cells for connectivity will be the main feature of the proving grounds.P edestrian sidewalks and several bus stops will be configured to demonstrate “smart transit” solutions. A 13-degree slope with curve will be critical for advanced autonomous machine use case testing.

The 25,000-square-foot technology development space will feature hardware labs, classrooms, conference rooms and more facilities.