Volvo wants to eliminate crash-related deaths in its cars by the end of the decade. To get there, it is developing autonomous features that reduce human error by making cars better at driving themselves. Whether it's safely following cars in traffic or automatically stopping when drivers make risky turns, ensuring these systems work properly takes a lot of testing.

Behold AstaZero, Sweden's enormous testing facility, outside Gothenburg. The name stands for Active Safety Test Area, and the work done there is all about seeing how technology can prevent accidents. Engineers from Volvo and elsewhere will be able to test nearly any real-life traffic scenario on more than 21.5 million square feet (about 375 football fields) of space. Volvo, which is footing part of the bill and will using the new facility, is focusing heavily on autonomous driving, automatic braking, and driver distraction.

There are four types of roads at the facility. The 3.5-mile "rural road" simulates the sudden appearance of objects, like moose (this is Sweden, after all), and has deciduous trees growing alongside the track to obscure vision. The "city area" simulates the hazards of urban motoring, like roundabouts, buses and pedestrians. Lane widths vary and street lighting can be made annoyingly absent. The 23-foot-wide "multi-lane road" has four lanes to simulate highway driving, complete with unannounced lane changes by other motorists. The 788-foot diameter "high-speed area" at the middle of the facility is where Volvo sees how avoidance maneuvers really work.

Before any rubber hits the road, engineers use the site’s computers, provided by the Swedish National Road and Transport Research Institute (VTI), to virtually run through the crash or maneuver scenario. Testers in the main control center oversee the placement of cars and obstacles, with the option to abort any exercises in motion. Several more control rooms dot the grounds, each set up for two operators with remotes to control the gates, traffic lights, and the robotics that move the test cars through their patterns. The communication equipment for each room has its own frequency to avoid interference.

Volvo also tests their semi trucks, seen here. Volvo / Chalmers

The designers even went out of their way to make the place environmentally friendly. Four protected species live in the area around the track: the moor frog, the red-throated diver, the Ortolan bunting, and the whopper swan. The facility was made with barriers, tunnels, and two new man-made ponds so the animals' lives aren't overly disrupted, and the moor frogs can carry on with their spawning and feeding routines.

The total bill came out to just under $72 million, paid for by AB Volvo, Volvo Car Corporation, Autoliv, Scania, the Swedish Transport Administration, and other local partners. The SP Technical Research Institute of Sweden and Chalmers University of Technology owns the facility, but the plan is to make it available for testing and research by academics and the government.

So what can we expect from Volvo's work at AstaZero? “All technologies being tested are future technologies and thereby confidential at this stage so I cannot give you any details,” says Malin Persson from Volvo’s Safety and Environmental division. We’ll be watching to see what comes out of this Swedish mystery zone.