Nov. 1, 2017—Eleven companies are investing a total of $11 million in the second phase of industry funding for Mcity, the University of Michigan-led public-private R&D initiative focused on autonomous vehicles and automated mobility.
Companies investing in second phase funding as members of Mcity’s Leadership Circle:
- Delphi Automotive PLC
- DENSO Corp.
- Econolite Group Inc.
- Ford Motor Co.
- General Motors Co.
- Honda Motor Co., Ltd
- Intel Corp.
- LG Electronics
- State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company
- Toyota Motor Corp.
- Verizon Communications, Inc.
As members of Mcity’s Leadership Circle, the companies are each committing a total of $1 million over three years to support Mcity and its programs. The center expects to add a few more Leadership Circle members in coming months. A broader range of companies engages in the work of the center as Affiliate members.
Mcity Leadership Circle companies span such sectors as auto manufacturing, suppliers, ITS, insurance, telecommunications, and data management. Together, they identify emerging opportunities as well as the barriers to realizing them, anticipate and help shape key standards and regulations, and help guide the direction of Mcity-funded research.
The new funding comes as Mcity has established itself as a leading voice in connected and automated mobility. Mcity is the only advanced mobility R&D center that combines early-stage research; testing in the state-of-the-art, real-world environment of the Mcity Test Facility, and on-road vehicle deployments to further prove new technologies.
To date, Mcity has invested about $20 million in 40 research projects. The total investment at Mcity and the U-M Transportation Research Institute in connected and automated vehicle research, development and deployment activities will exceed $100 million by 2020, with funding from U-M, government agencies, and industry.
In addition, dozens of faculty and hundreds of students are engaged in work to advance mobility. New capabilities have recently been added to the Mcity Test Facility, including a Traffic Control Center with augmented reality testing capability, and connectivity between vehicles and the traffic infrastructure.
A small fleet of research vehicles based at Mcity includes a 15-passenger driverless shuttle, and two open-source connected and automated vehicles which are platforms to help U-M faculty and researchers speed technology innovation. Mcity is also preparing to launch a driverless shuttle on U-M’s North Campus.
