How Nuro Tests for the Real World: Inside Our Las Vegas Closed Course Facility

At Nuro, safety is foundational. Before the Nuro Driver operates on public roads, it’s tested in controlled scenarios that push the limits of our self-driving technology. That testing happens at our dedicated closed course facility in Las Vegas, Nevada.

A Track Designed for Autonomy

Opened in 2021, this facility was designed specifically for developing and validating autonomous driving technology. While many companies rent test facilities, Nuro’s dedicated course gives us full control over the testing environment — from traffic light configurations to custom-designed intersections. We can test across commercial, residential, and mixed-use scenarios, and we can adjust the course to reflect real-world data gathered by our fleet.

Bridging Simulation and Public Roads

Our track plays a critical role between simulation and on-road operations. Before we introduce new behaviors or model improvements into public testing, we verify them here. This allows us to test for edge cases and failure recovery with real sensors, full-stack autonomy, and physical consequences.

We also reconfigure the course quickly based on new challenges we observe in the field — keeping our test scenarios relevant and representative.

Training for Rare and High-Risk Events

Some situations on public roads are too rare — or too dangerous — to capture on public roads. At our Las Vegas track, we recreate those conditions to ensure our self-driving system, the Nuro Driver, can handle them safely.

This includes:

• Pedestrians crossing from occluded areas at night
• Cyclists behaving unpredictably
• Construction zones and traffic signal outages
• Sudden merges, narrow lanes, or altered road markings

We use a mix of static obstacles, moving platforms, and dynamic actors to test edge cases under controlled conditions.

Operated by Experts

The Las Vegas facility is run by a team of autonomous vehicle testing professionals who are deeply familiar with our hardware, software, and safety protocols. They design experiments, monitor test performance, and ensure the Nuro Driver meets the standards required for deployment.

Supporting a Safe, Scalable Future

This facility is a key part of how we scale autonomous technology responsibly. It enables us to train smarter, validate faster, and demonstrate safe behavior before deployment.

Our closed course facility isn’t just a test track—it’s the proving ground where our promise of safety becomes real.