U-M to Lead DOT Midwest Center for Automated Vehicles

The University of Michigan has been selected to lead the U.S. Dept. of Transportation’s Midwest Center for Connected and Automated Transportation. Other participating universities are Purdue University in Indiana, the University of Illinois, Ohio’s University of Akron and Central State University, and Washtenaw Community College in Michigan.

Funded by a $2.5 million DOT grant, the program will be based on U-M’s Ann Arbor campus and headed by Henry Liu, who is a research professor for the university’s Transportation Research Institute and a professor of civil and environmental engineering.

The center will study how communities can best transition to connected and automated vehicles. Participants will conduct research on advanced mobility policy; design of advanced roadways, intersections and bridges; connected and automated transportation systems control and operations; and public acceptance of self-driving cars.

In addition, all participating universities will develop courses to train engineers, technicians and entrepreneurs in this emerging field. To this end, U-M recently established the Next Generation Transportation Systems program as part of its civil and environmental engineering curriculum.

As one of 10 regional University Transportation Centers across the U.S., the Midwest center represents Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin. The program is one of 35 five-year grants awarded through the DOT's University Transportation Center initiative.

The center leverages programs already under way at U-M, such as the Mcity proving grounds for automated and connected vehicles. The university also is working with Ann Arbor on the Connected Vehicle Test Environment in which thousands of vehicles are communicating with each other and the surrounding infrastructure.