The University of Michigan and state officials launched a new driverless vehicle research center in Ann Arbor yesterday, pledging to renew the rustbelt as a hub of auto innovation. At Google I/O this spring, Google X’s “Head of Moonshots” Astro Teller, described some of the freaky ways in which the company is testing its self driving cars, including throwing beachballs at it, buying fake birds and having them swoop down towards it, and perhaps most hilariously, having someone hide in a canvas bag in the middle of the street and jump out. But it’s not the only player in the game. The site even incorporates faded lane markings and signs that have been scrawled over with graffiti.
Advertisement
It’s all part of MTC’s central goal: “to develop and implement an advanced system of connected and automated vehicles in Ann Arbor by 2021″.
“Our cities will be much better to live in, our suburbs will be much better to live in”, he said “These technologies truly open the door to 21st century mobility”.
A Michigan man is suing a public university after he says it denied him a permit to open-carry while on campus. Mcity serves as the first urban environment specifically created to test and ideal autonomous vehicle technologies before they are mass-marketed.
The university wanted to simulate environments that pose the greatest challenges to automated vehicles. Housed on the school’s North Campus, Mcity will offer an opportunity to safely test emerging vehicle technologies in a controlled space prior to being rolled out to the general public. It was designed and developed by U-M’s interdisciplinary MTC, in partnership with the Michigan Department of Transportation and cost approximately US$10-million. The Boston Consulting Group tells Bloomberg that the autonomous vehicle industry will balloon to $42 billion by 2025 and self-driving cars could account for 25 percent of global auto sales by 2035.
While some firms are testing self-driving cars on roadways – notably in California’s Silicon Valley – Mcity will allow companies to repeat and retest scenarios the cars may experience on the road in order to ensure the systems are working properly. He said Toyota and other companies had input into what would be included at the site. According to Jim Sayer, the director for deployment for Mobile Transformation Center, “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”.
“M City” is expected to accelerate the production of usable, safe and convenient autonomous vehicle technology as early as 2020.
Advertisement
The $6.5 million, 32-acre facility in Ann Arbor tries to replicate a modern city’s traffic and pedestrians via highways and side streets. For the “founders” of Mcity, the test facility is a bold move to reassert Michigan’s top-dog status in the future of automobile technology.
