ANN ARBOR – The

University of Michigan’s Mcity, billed as the world’s first controlled

environment designed to test the potential of connected and automated vehicles

technologies, officially opened July 20 – coincidentally the 46th anniversary

of the first moon landing.

Just as the

Apollo mission kicked off a new age of scientific discovery, speakers at the Mcity

ribbon cutting predicted the 32-acre test track will usher in a new age of

mobility and solidify Michigan’s position as the brains of the auto industry.

“We believe

that this transformation to connected and automated mobility will be a game

changer for safety, for efficiency, for energy, and for accessibility,” said

Peter Sweatman, director of the U-M Mobility Transformation Center, dubbed MTC

for short. “Our cities will be much better to live in, our suburbs will be much

better to live in. These technologies truly open the door to 21st century

mobility.”

Mcity was

designed and developed by MTC, in partnership with the Michigan Department of

Transportation. If autonomous roads and cars can be made to work together, the

federal government estimates 80 percent of fatal crashes – that take the lives

of some 33,000 Americans each year – could be eliminated.

“Mcity

represents an important partnership between government at all levels, private

industry and academia,” said Kirk Steudle, director of the Michigan

Department of Transportation. “State of Michigan officials are thrilled to

be part of this vital collaborative, which will ensure that Michigan continues

to be the world’s auto leader.”

But Steudle said

many challenges remain before automated vehicles are deployed on real roads.

Hence the reason for Mcity, what he described as “a safe, controlled, and

realistic environment where we are going to figure out how the incredible

potential of connected and automated vehicles can be realized quickly,

efficiently and safely.”

MTC was

launched in 2013, but construction didn’t begin until last year. About

$10 million has been invested in the test facility so far. But about $20

million will be invested by 48 Mcity partners over the next three years. The money

comes from 15 Leadership Circle member companies – each investing $1 million –

while 33 Affiliate Members will contribute $150,000 each.

One

Leadership Circle company, Toyota Motor Company, will work closely with Mcity

from its Ann Arbor Technical Center. Hideki Hada, general manager of Toyota’s integrated

vehicle systems, said Mcity will speed up Toyota’s development of prototype

connected car and automated driving technology.

Hada said

while Toyota has a similar track in Japan, Mcity is just five minutes from

Toyota’s Michigan tech facility and will serve as a “nice playground for us.”

The types of

technologies that will be tested at Mcity include connected technologies –

vehicles talking to other vehicles or to the infrastructure, commonly known as

V2V or V2I – and various levels of automation all the way up to fully autonomous,

or driverless vehicles.

In addition

to Mcity, MTC has three on-roadway connected and automated vehicle deployments

underway. With the help of the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, MTC

is building on a nearly 3,000-vehicle connected technology project launched

three years ago by the U-M Transportation Research Institute to create a major

deployment of 9,000 connected vehicles operating across the greater Ann Arbor

area. MTC is also partnering with industry and the Michigan Department of Transportation

to put 20,000 connected vehicles on the road in Southeast Michigan. The third

piece of the plan calls for deploying a 2,000-vehicle mobility service of

connected and automated vehicles in Ann Arbor.

“This unique

combination of a purpose-built test environment and real-world deployments sets

U-M apart from other organizations and institutions doing similar work,” said

Jim Sayer, director for deployment for MTC.

Other

Leadership Circle companies include:

Delphi

Automotive PLC

DENSO

Corporation

Econolite

Group, Inc.

Ford Motor

Co.

General Motors

Co.

Honda Motor

Co., Ltd.

Iteris, Inc.

Navistar,

Inc.

Nissan

Motor Co., Ltd.

Qualcomm

Technologies, Inc.

Robert

Bosch LLC

State

Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company

Verizon

Communications, Inc.

Xerox

Corp.

More on the U-M

Mobility Transformation Center: mtc.umich.edu/