A former U.S. Army base in Massachusetts is being considered as a potential testing ground for self-driving cars.

An unused portion of Devens, a publicly owned former Army base 35 miles west of Boston, may be turned into a facility that would be rented to private companies to test self-driving vehicle technology.

"What's happened with the automated vehicle industry is there's a whole bunch of research and development going on here in Massachusetts with companies that are developing the technologies to make it all possible," said Thatcher Kezer, senior vice president at MassDevelopment, the agency that manages Devens. "They're looking for places they can test this technology."

Tom Ryden, executive director of MassRobotics, a non-profit that creates shared workspaces for robotics companies, said his organization represents a few companies that are working on developing self-driving cars.

"One of the challenges that they face is where can they test," Ryden said.

Neither Kezer nor Ryden would disclose which companies have expressed interest in the space.

Devens was part of a U.S. Army base that was closed in 1996 during a federal realignment of military bases.

A small portion of Devens remains used for military purposes by the Reserve and National Guard. The rest of Devens is controlled by MassDevelopment, a quasi-public economic development agency.

The base includes former neighborhoods that are now unoccupied. Although the houses have been removed, the area has runways for high-speed testing and empty streets similar to those in any housing development, which can be built out with signs and lane markers. Kezer and Ryden said that type of set-up could be an ideal place to test self-driving cars, since it is open space that is similar to a real world neighborhood, without the dangers of other drivers and pedestrians that would be present in an occupied neighborhood.

A map shows potential testing sits for self-driving cars at Devens.

"Their need is space that's open and clear of other objects so they can have a clean visual around the vehicle so they can do testing, and then they need areas that are very similar to real world neighborhoods," Kezer said. "We have available space that meets those needs."

It has not yet been determined how the testing ground would be leased -- whether companies would rent space at a daily rate or through a long-term lease. Kezer said MassDevelopment has gotten a "high level of interest" from the industry, and is now talking to people in the industry to determine their specific needs. For example, state officials are talking to companies about what kinds of facilities are needed for high- and low-speed testing, and what physical items like road signs or building corners would be useful.

"We're at the stage of saying, we have areas that are conducive, they're interested, we're interested. What are the particular needs so we can prepare? What are the agreements for use of the space?" Kezer said.

Kezer said MassDevelopment's goal, in addition to making money off of unused land, is to create an environment that encourages other technology companies working on autonomous vehicles to relocate to Massachusetts, creating jobs and economic activity.

"There's a higher level of purpose here than just generating revenue off the land we own," Kezer said. "It fits with the larger economic development mission of the commonwealth."