Gradually, Ann Arbor is becoming known for a remarkably futuristic technology: the self-driving car.
This spring, work is expected to wrap up on a 32-acre “driverless town” on the outskirts of the city. There, Google and others will be testing vehicles featuring an array of cutting edge technology.
One goal is a driverless vehicle not only programmed to follow a particular route, but also to avoid all kinds of less predictable developments: mistakes by other drivers, changes in the road surface, weather and so on.
Dozens of people are involved in the driverless vehicle project. Current State’s Mark Bashore talks with Brandon Schoetle, who recently finished a study that looks at the impact that self-driving vehicles could have. Brandon’s a project manager at the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute or “UMTRI.”
