M City

It is time to take a break from all of the transportation funding issues of the day and dream a little about how we can put that money to good use. One such program is the continued development of the automated car concept that we’ve been hearing a lot about lately. Michigan is a national leader in developing this technology – and it makes sense that we should be. With many great universities and the home of the auto companies, Southeast Michigan is an ideal location for the development and testing of this new technology.

As Google, Apple, and other companies move ahead with their own autonomous technology plans, the University of Michigan is becoming a vital asset for General Motors, Ford, Toyota, Nissan, and Honda to pool resources and develop the robotics, software, and electrical engineering skills to compete in this new and growing market. A 32-acre site on the University of Michigan’s North Campus called M City is about to become a crucial hub in Michigan’s race to develop self-driving and connected cars before Silicon Valley or Europe.

M City is part of UMTRI’s Mobility Transformation Center, the latest stage of a $100 million, eight-year investment. The goal is to make Southeast Michigan the nation’s test bed for connected vehicle technology and autonomous transportation by 2021. The purpose is to simulate traffic scenarios and visual barriers that autonomous vehicles will confront every day to see how they will react.

While Google has been testing its self-driving cars on streets of northern California, M City will provide a more controlled setting. This 4.2-mile network, which begins operating in late July, will include multiple travel lanes, intersections, roundabouts, road signs and markers, sidewalks, bus stop shelters, building facades, streetlights, parked cars, and pedestrians that will provide robust test scenarios for autonomous vehicles.

Learn more about the Mcity Test Facility here.

It is a fascinating concept and a good way to test the technology in a controlled environment before taking it out on the public roads. The technology has come such a long way, but obviously has such a long way to go. It will also require us to address a number of public policy issues if it is to be successful – issues like privacy, liability, control, and insurance will all have to be rethought if this technology is to be successful. Wonder what will be easier, finding more money to fix our crumbling roads and bridges and underfunded transit system, or dealing with public policy issues surrounding autonomous cars?

Image credit: Wikimedia Commons – Flickr user jurvetson (Steve Jurvetson). Trimmed and retouched with PS9 by Mariordo – http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jurvetson_Google_driverless_car.jpg