ANN ARBOR — The University of Michigan has set a Monday, July 20 grand opening for Mcity, its new test site for connected and autonomous vehicles.
Mcity is a 32-acre simulated urban and suburban environment, featuring a network of roads with intersections, traffic signs and signals, streetlights, building facades, sidewalks and construction obstacles.
Mcity is operated by UM’s Mobility Transformation Center, a public-private research and development partnership whose mission is to develop a commercially viable ecosystem of connected and automated driverless vehicles.
The grand opening event will run from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Highlights of the grand opening include a formal ceremony and ribbon cutting with remarks by MTC Director Peter Sweatman, UM Board of Regents Chair Shauna Ryder Diggs, UM President Mark Schlissel, Michigan Department of Transportation Director Kirk Steudle, U.S. Sen. Gary Peters and Ann Arbor Mayor Christopher Taylor.
The event will not feature demonstrations of driverless vehicles, but several of MTC’s industry partners will host technology demonstrations or displays that represent the types of tests that can be done at Mcity.
The companies and demonstrations include:
Bosch – Active demonstration of automatic emergency braking for pedestrians. The technology uses a radar sensor combined with a video camera to classify every object that is relevant to a collision, especially pedestrians and cyclists, enabling an early driver warning and automatic braking if needed.
Delphi – Delphi Automotive PLC will demonstrate its driver state sensor, which monitors the driver’s attention and intelligently minimizes activities when they are distracted. The company will also highlight its automated-vehicle cross-country drive earlier this year.
Denso – Demonstration of how dedicated short-range communication, driver status monitoring, head-up displays and other technologies need to work together to make automated driving a reality.
Econolite – Connected Vehicle Kiosk will feature Econolite components currently available on the market, working in real-time to demonstrate vehicle-to-infrastructure communication.
Honda – Demonstration will showcase what is possible when a pedestrian’s smart phone can alert both an approaching driver and the pedestrian to a potential collision.
Iteris – Demonstration will highlight technologies for integrating data that will be actively generated by vehicles and bicycles using Iteris systems installed in Mcity.
Qualcomm – Demonstration will focus on wireless automotive technologies including: wireless charging of consumer electronics and electric vehicles, as well as vehicle-to-pedestrian communication systems to help reduce collisions.
Toyota – Display will feature vulnerable road user test mannequins – adult, child, and bicyclist – used for standardized active safety systems testing.
Verizon – Verizon will demonstrate innovative car-sharing technology that runs as an application on any smartphone or tablet. Additionally, Verizon will showcase technology currently being used in the first large-scale pay-by the mile Road Usage program in the United States in the State of Oregon.
Xerox – Active demonstration of technology that detects the number of passengers in a vehicle, which transportation and law enforcement agencies could use to determine a vehicle’s eligibility for high-occupancy vehicle lanes. Also, active demonstration of connected parking technology that will guide a driver to an available parking spot.
The event also will be live-streamed on the MTC website, www.mtc.umich.edu.