Politicians are getting behind autonomous-vehicle development efforts. According to Dino Grandoni writing in the New York Times’ “Wheels” blog, lawmakers in California, Texas, and Virginia are hoping to capture some of the $20 billion that global companies will spend on autonomous vehicle development over the next five years.
Virginia, for example, has designated 70 miles of roads in the northern part of the state for autonomous vehicle testing and will provide support by way of the Center for Automated Vehicle Systems at Virginia Tech University. The center will help run experiments and analyze data as well as handle licensing and insurance issues. Grandoni quotes Myra Blanco, director at the center, as saying, “If we are able to help companies by facilitating the process for them, we’re going to help bring business to the state.”
Of course, experiments on open roads aren’t easily repeatable. Overcoming that obstacle is Mcity, a 32-acre simulated urban and suburban environment that includes roads, signs, signals, building facades, sidewalks, and various obstacles. According to Peter Sweatman, director of the University of Michigan’s Mobility Transformation Center, Mcity is not a test track—it’s a test environment. (You can read more about Mcity in our upcoming October print edition.)
At Mcity’s launch last month, Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder stated, “We’ve been a world leader in innovation, especially in terms of mobility. We put the world on wheels. We transformed how the world moved. Michigan is uniquely positioned to continue to be a leader in mobility, and the University of Michigan’s new Mcity will play a critical role in that future.”
The emphasis on Michigan caused Tom Ashbrook, host of Onpoint Radio, to title a program on Mcity “Detroit vs. Silicon Valley.” But as Michael Ramsey, automotive industry reporter for The Wall Street Journal, pointed out on Ashbrook’s program, the contest might be better viewed as traditional auto makers vs. Silicon Valley. Mcity participants include Honda, Nissan, and Toyota as well as Ford and GM. (You can listen to a podcast of the program here.)
Of course you can expect some cross-pollination between the high-tech industry and traditional automakers. Chip maker Qualcomm (although not headquartered in Silicon Valley) is participating in Mcity, and, as Grandoni in the Times points out, Daimler, Ford, and Volkswagen have labs in the Silicon Valley area.
Sometimes the best thing a politician can do for the autonomous vehicle industry is nothing. Grandoni says a Texas state senator proposed a bill that would have instituted self-driving-car regulations, but at Google’s request the bill was never voted on. Google has been testing self-driving cars in Austin.
