INSIGHT | Hello Spring!
Welcome Spring, season of fresh starts

A year ago this month, our lives were uprooted as we began the battle against COVID-19. Lockdowns. Quarantines. Social distancing. Face masks. Sadly, hundreds of thousands of lives have been lost. While our fight against the pandemic is not yet over, there is light, and hope, at the end of the tunnel with the growing availability of vaccines.

So much has changed in our lives at home and at work. We don't know what our "new normal" might be. But much good work continues to be done, despite the pandemic. In this edition of Mcity Insight, we share stories about what Mcity has accomplished in the last few months, as well as others involved in transportation and mobility work at the University of Michigan. We hope you enjoy it.
New tools from Mcity simplify creation, execution of complex AV test scenarios

New software and hardware developed by a team of Mcity engineers now makes it possible for researchers to create and execute complex, sophisticated, and easily repeatable tests of connected vehicles, automated vehicles, and connected and automated vehicles, potentially saving testing time and costs, and accelerating product development.

The new Mcity OS is a cloud-based operating system that runs on any internet-enabled device, including vehicle computer platforms, laptops, tablets, and smartphones to control all the features of the Mcity Test Facility.
ACM first to license Mcity OS
The American Center for Mobility was the first to license Mcity OS through the University of Michigan's Office of Technology Transfer.
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New U-M Ford Robotics Building a sandbox for robot research and home to automaker's first mobility research lab on a university campus
U-M’s new Ford Motor Company Robotics Building is the new hub of the U-M Robotics Institute.

The first three floors of the new building hold custom U-M research labs for robots that fly, walk, roll and augment the human body—as well as classrooms, offices and makerspaces.

The fourth floor houses Ford’s first robotics and mobility research lab on a university campus, as well as 100 Ford researchers and engineers.

The facility includes high-bay garage space for self-driving cars and is just down the road from the Mcity Test Facility. Ford is a founding member of Mcity's Leadership Circle of industry partners.
2021 TechLab at Mcity cohort kicks off year with state of Michigan’s chief mobility officer and COVID-era video conference
The 2021 cohort of the TechLab at Mcity program got started in January with a -- what else? -- remote video conference.

The entire 2021 cohort of two dozen students and mentors from each of six startup companies joined the event as well as alumni of the program, and representatives from several University of Michigan academic and research units, the state of Michigan, and others. Trevor Pawl, the state of Michigan's chief mobility officer spoke to the students about Michigan's vision for future mobility.

TechLab at Mcity gives undergraduate students an opportunity to gain hands-on experience working on real-world challenges in developing connected and automated vehicles. The 2021 cohort is taking on projects related to autonomous parking, inclement weather machine vision, sensor fusion, edge case simulation, and mapping.
$9.95M from U.S. Department of Transportation for ‘smart intersections’ across Ann Arbor
Ann Arbor, Michigan will soon be home to more than 20 “smart intersections”—capable of gathering and transmitting information in real time to connected cars—as part of a University of Michigan effort to demonstrate the safety potential of connected and automated vehicles.

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration has awarded U-M $9.95 million toward the effort, which will be headed by U-M’s Transportation Research Institute. Corporate partners contributed an additional $10 million of in-kind funding.
Register now for 2021 CCAT Global Symposium
The 2021 Global Symposium on Connected and Automated Vehicles and Infrastructure is a two-day, two-track event that will feature panel discussions and updates on research initiatives of the Center for Connected and Automated Transportation. Mcity is a CCAT partner.

Panel discussions will cover global CAV deployments, safety metrics for AVs, transportation equity, and more. The event is free and open to the public.

Learn more and register here.
LEADING THE TRANSFORMATION
TO CONNECTED AND AUTOMATED VEHICLES
Mcity at the University of Michigan is leading the transition to connected and automated vehicles. Home to world-renowned researchers, a one-of-a-kind test facility, and on-road deployments, Mcity brings together industry, government, and academia to improve transportation safety, sustainability, and accessibility for the benefit of society.