America built a city for unmanned vehicles

Mcity, a simulated city built by scientists at the University of Michigan (USA) to test unmanned cars, has just officially opened yesterday.

City for unmanned vehicles

Located on the campus of the University of Michigan (UM) in Ann Arbor, this experimental environment covers an area of ​​129,500 square meters (equivalent to 24 football fields) and is fully equipped as a small city.

In addition to the complex street network, Mcity also includes a central area with simulated shops and restaurants.(Photo: University of Michigan.)

In Mcity , the street network is built complete with sidewalks, street lights, traffic lights. This " fake" city ​​also has a roundabout, a bridge, a tunnel, some streets without sidewalks, a 4-lane highway with entrances and exits. In addition, the city center also includes facades simulating buildings and restaurants.

Mcity is 129,500 square meters, located in Ann Arbor, Michigan State, USA.(Photo: University of Michigan.)

The idea behind Mcity is simple: test new achievements of self-driving vehicle technology in a human- free environment before applying it to life.

"Mcity is a safe and well-controlled reality simulation environment. Here, we will explore the potential of automated vehicles that can turn into reality quickly, efficiently and safely. How, " Peter Sweatman, Director of the Center for Automated Traffic Testing (MTC) in UM, said.

Mcity's roads are built to meet "harsh and repetitive" tests. Drivers in Mcity don't have to deal with real pedestrians. However, a knowledgeable robot named Sebastian will suddenly appear on the road to check if the cars are automatically braking.

Besides evaluating unmanned autonomous vehicles , researchers will also experiment with self-connecting vehicles. This type of vehicle can communicate with each other or with other equipment, such as traffic lights near the road.

Mcity is part of the big plan MTC and partner organizations are building to bring self-driving cars and self-connecting cars on the streets of Ann Arbor in 2021. The University of Michigan and the Transportation Department Michigan state hopes to put 20,000 self-connected cars on the streets of southern Michigan.