Toyota Employees to Aid Michigan V2X Research

Toyota Motor Corp. is encouraging employees at its research and development center near Ann Arbor, Mich., to participate in an on-going program there to test connected vehicle technologies.

The Ann Arbor Connected Vehicle Test Environment was launched by the University of Michigan’s Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI) in 2012. UMTRI says the program is the largest DSRC 5.9GHz-based test environment for connected vehicles in the world.

Toyota R&D employs more than 1,800 people near Ann Arbor. Those who live in Michigan’s Washtenaw county can have their vehicle equipped with DSRC transponders, which will be used to capture and share information from other similarly equipped vehicles and the infrastructure.

UMTRI notes that the largescale connected fleet will enable it to conduct more productive research. The university in partnership with the U.S. Dept. of Transportation, Michigan Economic Development Corp., city of Ann Arbor and other affiliate partners and suppliers have invested more than $50 million in the program over the last six years.

In April, Toyota announced plans to outfit most of its Toyota and Lexus models with DSRC technology by 2021. The carmaker has offered V2V systems in Japan since 2015.