Can The Motor City Make A Comeback With Driverless Technology?

Detroit has lost its luster over the past few years, but the advent of a new autonomous vehicle testing ground at the University of Michigan could turn the city's gloomy fate around in the coming years.

Several interested companies including Toyota Motor Corp (ADR) (NYSE: TM), Honda Motor Co Ltd (ADR) (NYSE: HMC) and General Motors Company (NYSE: GM) have all chipped in toward the $10 million necessary to create a 32-acre facility where the new technology can be tested.

Why Michigan?

The facility will be located in Ann Arbor within the University of Michigan's Mobility Transformation Center, which many say is a logical step as much of the research on driver-less technology has been done in Michigan. Companies like Google Inc (NASDAQ: GOOG) have opened facilities in warmer states like California, but the Michigan location is expected to present a unique set of challenges for the new technology which can't be simulated anywhere else.

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The four miles worth of roadways that have been created for the project are designed to simulate real-life driving situations.

First Of Its Kind

The facility, dubbed MCity, will be open to any parties interested in testing autonomous vehicle technology. So far, more than 60 different companies are planning to utilize MCity. The course is unique in that it boasts a variety of road types and intersections, something that many companies are lacking at their own testing centers.

Toyota has been working on its version of driver-less vehicles at its own facilities in Japan, but the bulk of driving has been done on closed tracks that don't mimic real-world situations.