University is building a fake city to test driverless cars

The University of Michigan announced that it's building a 32 acre simulated city center to test real-world driving conditions that automated cars will face in urban environments.

The first car to use the facility for testing is Ford's automated Fusion Hybrid. Michigan engineers are working with Ford to develop sensors and mapping technology for the car.

"We will actually be writing code for the test facility," said Edwin Olson, an assistant professor of computer science and engineering, in a press release. "We'll be able to trigger tricky traffic signal timings, or a pedestrian stepping into the intersection at just the wrong time, for example." The facility will also be equipped with "merge lanes, stoplights, intersections, roundabouts, road signs, a railroad crossing, building facades, construction barrels and eventually a mechanical pedestrian."

The driverless car testing facility is part of the university's Mobility Transformation Center, a public/private partnership that launched last year. Among the first private partners of the program are automakers Ford, General Motors, and Toyota, along with Bosch, Econolite, and Xerox.

According to the researchers working on the project, "such testing is a vital step in making sure these advanced vehicles can operate safely in the real world."

The facility is expected to be be ready for use in the fall. Around the same time Google is hoping to have 100 of its newly unveiled driverless cars on public roads.

Photo: Ford

Related on SmartPlanet:

• Google unveils self-driving car, brakes and steering wheel not included
• When will self-driving cars become the norm?
• The single component which makes Google's self-driving cars work
• Ford partners with MIT, Stanford on driverless cars
• Could driverless cars render public transit obsolete?

This post was originally published on Smartplanet.com