Willow Run Airport To Become Center For Autonomous, Connected Vehicles

ANN ARBOR — A nonprofit organization and a board of directors have been formed to handle operations for the new American Center for Mobility. The center, located in Ypsilanti Township at Willow Run Airport, is intended to help accelerate the development of autonomous and connected vehicles, as well as lead to economic development in Michigan.

The board of directors approved the appointment of John M. Maddox as CEO, effective immediately. Maddox has been serving as assistant director of the University of Michigan Mobility Transformation Center. MTC operates Mcity, a connected and automated vehicle test center on UM’s North Campus. Maddox will retain a partial appointment with MTC.

Maddox has experience with the U.S. Department of Transportation and in the auto industry. Working for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration from 2008 to 2012, Maddox served as associate administrator for vehicle safety research. Before working at NHTSA, Maddox supervised compliance with U.S. and Canadian vehicle safety standards at Volkswagen Group. Prior to that he spent 14 years at Ford Motor Co. as a senior research engineer with assignments in product development, engineering design, and vehicle safety.

About the Author: Matt Roush

Matt Roush is a freelance writer, editor, and photographer, and co-host of MITech TV with MITechNews founder and publisher Mike Brennan. He is a longtime Michigan journalist and marketing professional, having spent more than 30 years in journalism for media outlets including WWJ Newsradio 950, Crain’s Detroit Business, the Kalamazoo Gazette, and the Traverse City Record-Eagle, and over a decade in nonprofit media relations and marketing for The Engineering Society of Detroit and Lawrence Technological University.