July 22, 2025 — Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) has successfully completed its ambitious eight-year-long connected and automated (CAV) vehicle technology project. 

As part of the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy’s (ARPA-E) NEXTCAR (NEXT-Generation Energy Technologies for Connected and Automated On-Road Vehicles) program, SwRI developed an automated vehicle that combines CAV technology and SAE Level 4 automation to demonstrate up to 30% energy savings compared to traditional hybrid vehicles, without modifications to the powertrain hardware. The completed SwRI NEXTCAR vehicle was adapted from a commercially available plug-in hybrid sedan. SwRI showcased its technology at the NEXTCAR program’s capstone event, known as the ARPA-E Field Day, which took place at the American Center for Mobility in Michigan in June.

SwRI’s NEXTCAR automated driving platform combines widely adopted sensing technologies, such as lidar, with SwRI’s patented Ranger localization technology. The vehicle is equipped with a specialized algorithm suite that includes cooperative control capabilities and smart lane merging and changing functionality. It also uses SwRI-developed drive-by-wire technology to automate operations of the vehicle’s accelerator, brake pedals and electronic power steering system. 

During the Field Day, SwRI’s NEXTCAR vehicle, guided by the Institute’s custom localization and drive-by-wire controllers, performed highly accurate and repeatable automated driving tasks along a pre-mapped route. The vehicle’s eco-driving controller, developed on an Android app, showed spectators the optimized speed information in real-time. Attendees included SwRI staff from the Powertrain Engineering and Intelligent Systems divisions, ARPA-E representatives, and mobility industry stakeholders; it also included demonstrations from fellow NEXTCAR teams from Ohio State University and Michigan Technological University.