His Royal Highness The Duke of Cambridge Visits MIRA Technology Park
His Royal Highness The Duke of Cambridge has today visited MIRA Technology Park, the UK’s leading automotive technology park and Enterprise Zone, as part of a day that celebrated world-class British vehicle research, development and manufacturing.
- The Duke of Cambridge and HORIBA MIRA technical sales engineer, Jon Maybin, with HORIBA MIRA’s driverless vehicle
The Duke visited MIRA Technology Park to see how HORIBA MIRA provides pioneering research, engineering and test services to the global transport industry. His Royal Highness was shown an impressive display of vehicles that captures the diversity of the work that takes place at the Technology Park. During the vehicle presentation, The Duke also met with representatives from HORIBA MIRA, ClearMotion from the USA and Bosch UK, to discuss some of the work they undertake through their teams based at the Park.
Following this, His Royal Highness was taken on some high-speed laps of HORIBA MIRA’s world-class proving ground in an Aston Martin DB11, before heading to the site’s unique wet handling test track for an insight into how this facility is used to develop vehicles. The Duke also took the opportunity to drive the Aston himself on this special facility. Experiencing the cutting-edge technology developed at the Technology Park first hand, The Duke also took a trip in HORIBA MIRA’s driverless vehicle on the City Circuit facility, which has been designed and equipped for the development of Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (CAV).
Finally, The Duke attended a reception to meet apprentices, graduates and PhD students at various stages of their journey within the company. Since its launch in 2013, the MIRA Academy has been providing fundamental support to young people and apprentices. Currently, HORIBA MIRA employs 18 apprentices through its MIRA Academy programme, which offers salaried employment for each apprentice from day one, with a structured programme of both academic and on-the-job training. The Duke also met ex-Forces personnel who now work in a variety of roles within HORIBA MIRA.
Dr George Gillespie OBE, CEO at HORIBA MIRA, said:
“It is an overwhelming honour for us to have the opportunity to demonstrate world-class British R&D to The Duke of Cambridge today. As the British automotive sector enters a post-recession renaissance period, it is incredibly encouraging to be able to engage with His Royal Highness about the cutting-edge technologies that will allow us to drive the UK automotive sector forward.
“We are extremely proud of the industry-leading facilities and expertise that we have on site at MIRA Technology Park. With companies from across the globe choosing to locate their R&D facilities with us, the Technology Park is an outstanding example of a truly international Enterprise Zone.”
