Florida’s best hope to develop self-driving vehicles might lie with an iconic-looking campus and a $90 million test track being built 40 miles southwest of Orlando.

The futuristic concept of driverless cars is fast emerging at Florida Polytechnic University, a campus with a space-age look halfway between Orlando and Tampa. With budding plans for ways to use the vehicles in several Florida cities, the state is just getting its foot into the competitive niche even as Detroit and other markets roll out prototypes and shuttles.

Officials hope the university’s partnership with MIT and the 400-acre SunTrax test track being built nearby will set their efforts apart.