Mcity Opens Amid Predictions It Will Usher In New Era Of Driverless Cars

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 46^th 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