DETROIT (AP) - University of Michigan and state government officials aim to have a 32-acre driverless car test site running by September - in time for a global conference on intelligent transportation systems.
Gov. Rick Snyder and other state and university officials gathered Tuesday at Detroit's auto show to outline plans for the Mobility Transformation Facility, a $6.5 million site on the Ann Arbor university's North Campus.
It will offer a simulated urban environment with roads, intersections, building facades, traffic circles and a hill.
Two developments enable the facility - a new state law letting companies test driverless but occupied cars on roads, and a street-level research project in Ann Arbor involving 3,000 people in networked vehicles.
The 2014 World Congress on Intelligent Transport Systems runs Sept. 7-11 in Detroit.