The due date for mass-market autonomous cars is 2020. It’s a date that is fast approaching, which means that automakers are looking to find various ways to test this new and innovative technology. Well, that’s where Mcity comes into play, a brand-new “city” in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where driverless cars are taking to the roads.
Mcity was greenlit back in 2013 when automakers, educators and the government felt that autonomous cars needed their own space in order to be developed and tested properly. After that, the little city that could was built near the University of Michigan’s campus on a 32-acre plot of land. The town is a perfect recreation of various streets, from crowded highways to everyday neighborhood roadways; it even has various types of pavement, including paving brick and dirt roads.
Basically, Mcity is used to see how autonomous cars will react to the many unpredictable and uncontrollable occurrences that happen on American roads. Engineers then take their findings and adjust the technology to react better to unexpected events, such as pedestrians, flying objects in the road and poorly marked street signs.
"There are many challenges ahead as automated vehicles are increasingly deployed on real roadways," the head of the Mcity project said. "Mcity is a safe, controlled, and realistic environment where we are going to figure out how the incredible potential of connected and automated vehicles can be realized quickly, efficiently and safely."
Volvo is one of the most prominent voices behind autonomous technology and is well on its way to meeting the 2020 deadline. Until then, take a look at Volvo’s newest high-tech vehicles that already work wonders on the road.
