Although on-street testing immerses AVs into real-world mobility environments, ensuring their reliability requires creating and evaluating as many “what if” scenarios as possible for a variety of vehicles. For that, many states have invested in proving-ground test sites that foster public-private collaboration across transportation agencies, academia, automakers and private-sector technology and communication firms.
Some, like the University of Michigan Mcity, were built specifically to simulate urban and suburban environments. Located on a 32-acre site on the school’s North Campus in Ann Arbor, Mcity includes nearly five lane-miles of multilane roads with intersections, traffic signs and signals, sidewalks, simulated buildings, street lights and obstacles such as hydrants and construction barriers.