Motor vehicle crashes are the single-largest public health crisis in the United States. But the launch of a new year-long test of “smart car” technology conducted by the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute will help save lives and reduce injuries among American motorists.
This first-of-its-kind effort will test a Wi-Fi-like technology in nearly 3,000 vehicles that allows vehicles and highway infrastructure to “talk” to each other, as well as to traffic lights and other road signals located at intersections, curves and highway sites throughout a test-pilot area in northeast Ann Arbor.
Safety Pilot Model Deployment, a $22 million partnership between UMTRI and the U.S. Department of Transportation, is part of a joint research initiative led by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. It is the largest connected-vehicle, street-level pilot project ever conducted.
