As the U-M Transportation Research Institute celebrates its 60th anniversary, it broadens its scope to incorporate Mcity and accelerate AV technologies as the next frontier in road safety

To enhance its research on advanced mobility technologies that preserve lives, the University of Michigan is merging its long-established leadership in transportation safety with its unique proficiency in evaluating connected and automated vehicle technologies.

Starting March 1, U-M’s Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI) will extend its operations to include the Mcity public/private initiative and testing facility. Henry Liu, who has directed Mcity since 2022, will oversee the enhanced UMTRI.

“We perceive this as an amplification of our influence,” remarked Liu, the Bruce D. Greenshields Collegiate Professor of Engineering and a specialist in civil and environmental engineering. “UMTRI contributes leading safety researchers and emphasizes the human elements, while Mcity offers technological advancements and a unique testing environment. Together, they have solidified Michigan Engineering’s status as a frontrunner in mobility efforts that not only refine the engineering side but also explore how they affect people’s lives.”

Liu succeeds James Sayer, UMTRI’s director for the past nine years, who will transition to a research scientist role.

This change marks a form of homecoming for the Mcity Test Facility. The vision for Mcity was conceived, developed, and launched in 2015 by UMTRI leaders including Sayer, together with industry and government collaborators, establishing it as the globe’s first specifically designed test track for connected and automated vehicles.

“The outcomes of our initiatives to enhance roadway safety have come full circle at a moment when it’s apparent that connected and automated vehicle technologies represent the crucial next step in traffic safety,” Sayer stated. “Every year, over 40,000 individuals continue to lose their lives on U.S. roads.”

A new chapter commences as UMTRI celebrates its 60th anniversary alongside the Mcity Test Facility’s 10th year.

Sixty years of preserving lives

In 1965, the country was grappling with a disturbing surge in traffic fatalities. An increasing number of Americans were acquiring speedier cars designed for aesthetics and performance, traveling them along the new interstate highways built in the prior decade. Between 1960-65, road fatalities increased by 20% per 100,000 people, as reported by the National Safety Council.

The federal government acknowledged the dilemma and began to consider solutions. Similar deliberations occurred within Ford, GM, and the Automobile Manufacturers Association. With a contribution of $10 million, they established UMTRI’s predecessor, the Highway Safety Research Institute, which transformed into UMTRI in the 1980s. It became imperative to incorporate safety into vehicle engineering.

Since its inception, the institute has conducted foundational research instrumental in achieving a roughly 35% reduction in fatalities per capita, according to 2023 NRC data. Recently, UMTRI has spearheaded connected and automated vehicle rollouts, leading to the accumulation of the world’s largest dataset of connected vehicle information, showcasing how effective such technology can be in improving safety. However, its foundation rested on a focus on vehicle design, driver conduct, vehicle dynamics, and crash evaluation.

During the 1970s, researchers endeavored to enhance crash test dummies to more accurately reflect the human form for better protection of vehicle occupants, including children. Ultimately, they released a groundbreaking analysis of driver body shape and posture, Anthropometry of Motor Vehicle Occupants, which has served as the design framework for adult-sized crash test dummies for nearly four decades. This work is ongoing.

In the subsequent decade, the institute’s findings influenced designs and regulations concerning occupant restraint systems, especially seatbelts, child safety seats, and airbag technologies. For example, a 1988 survey on child safety seat usage and misuse throughout Michigan drew national recognition and contributed to the establishment of the Lower Anchors and Tethers for Children (LATCH) mechanism for securing child safety seats.

Simultaneously, UMTRI and its scholars initiated the International Roughness Index, which is utilized globally by constructors to assess road surface quality. This index remains essential for enhancing road safety and minimizing vehicle repair expenses.

The current heavy truck safety regulations can also trace their beginnings to the mathematical modeling and data collection conducted by UMTRI researchers.

By the 1990s, UMTRI had refined its sophisticated 3D modeling and simulation functions over years of researching and verifying vehicle dynamics, leading to the creation of the startup Mechanical Simulation Corp., which aimed to provide the automotive sector with a novel way to accurately and authentically forecast real-world vehicle performance. When the entity was acquired in 2022 by vehicle software provider Applied Intuition, it supported over 200 OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers. In the present day, Applied Intuition supplies software utilized by automakers and others to further autonomous vehicle technologies, attaining a valuation of $6 billion in 2024.

UMTRI’s history in safety efforts positioned it as an ideal collaborator for governmental bodies and the automotive sector as focus shifted towards the prospects of connected and automated vehicles. Under UMTRI’s guidance, approximately 2,800 drivers covered 71 million miles during the world’s inaugural large-scale connected vehicle initiative, the Safety Pilot Model Deployment, a $30 million project introduced in 2012 in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Transportation.

The Safety Pilot demonstrated that connected vehicles could decrease unimpaired collisions by 80%. The initial initiative has transformed over the last ten years with advancements in infrastructure and technology, amounting to more than $82 million. Currently, the Ann Arbor Connected Environment 2.0 and Smart Intersections Project cover 27 square miles of Ann Arbor, featuring 75 locations, including 69 intersections, and utilizes cellular-based C-V2X technology.

UMTRI’s research in crash analysis continues to generate vital insights leading to enhanced safety responses. In collaboration with the Office of Highway Safety Planning and other entities, including NHTSA, for over three decades, UMTRI has retained high-quality access to Michigan crash statistics. The Michigan Traffic Crash Facts platform is an acclaimed, robust crash analysis tool that permits users to search traffic crash information related to a broad spectrum of data, such as age, deer interactions, and vehicle/driver and occupant details.

The institute’s endeavors also encompass analyzing the benefits of active safety systems, such as automatic emergency braking, and it influenced General Motors’ decisions to standardize five active safety features on most 2023 vehicles, which includes systems that mitigate collisions involving pedestrians and cyclists.

A secure venue for technology assessment

From the outset, UMTRI officials acknowledged the necessity of testing advanced connected and automated technologies in a safe setting, instead of on public thoroughfares. Accordingly, they developed the Mcity Test Facility, a 32-acre space that replicates a realistic urban and suburban environment, inclusive of roads, intersections, traffic signs and signals, streetlights, building fronts, sidewalks, construction barriers, and more.

The objective of the test facility was to create an area for thorough, repeatable testing in a secure, regulated environment while complementing UMTRI’s expansive real-world deployments.

Manufacturers and other stakeholders in the industry recognized the urgency for accelerating the research and development of these technologies as well. Initially, 15 Leadership Circle companies committed to contribute $1 million over three years, along with 31 affiliate members providing $150,000, resulting in over $19 million in industry backing to maintain the facility and support research. Early Leadership Circle participants comprised General Motors, Ford, Honda, State Farm, Toyota, and Verizon.

Shortly after the Mcity Test Facility debuted in 2015, Ford emerged as the initial automaker to evaluate autonomous vehicles there.

“Testing Ford’s autonomous vehicle fleet at Mcity provides a demanding, yet secure, urban setting to consistently check and refine these new technologies,” Raj Nair, then Ford’s group vice president of Global Product Development, remarked at that time. “This represents a significant advancement in enhancing the quality of life for millions and improving mobility.”

By integrating both physical and virtual resources, Mcity can replicate nearly any driving scenario—controlling vehicle actions, simulating pedestrians, and more. Its scholars are also advocating for a structured approach to automated vehicle testing for both the industry and consumers. The Mcity Safety Assessment Program consists of a dual-phase protocol for verifying the safety of Level 4 automated vehicles prior to their deployment in real-world settings that could potentially become a model for a national standard. Level 4 vehicles can navigate most driving conditions without human involvement.

Mcity’s Driverless Shuttle served as the nation’s inaugural AV shuttle research initiative on user behavior and as a means to evaluate consumer acceptance of the technology. This was succeeded by collaborations with May Mobility on trial AV shuttle deployments in Ann Arbor and Detroit.

Currently, Mcity also facilitates remote testing, enabled by the digital infrastructure developed with funding from the National Science Foundation. The synergy between digital and physical infrastructure allows researchers worldwide to utilize the testing facility without needing to be on-site, thus expediting the advancement of automated technologies.

Moreover, Mcity has recently unveiled the first open-source digital twin of the test facility, offering a quicker, safer, and more economical method for testing autonomous and connected vehicle software. The digital twin is freely available for anyone to use and does not necessitate a physical vehicle or test facility.

A pivotal moment for road safety

Liu contends that the integration of UMTRI and Mcity has the capacity to catalyze a pivotal moment for road safety. Even though traffic fatalities per 100,000 individuals are currently less than half of their peak in the 1970s—around 13 people compared to 28—over 40,000 lives are still lost on U.S. roads annually. The USDOT refers to this as a “crisis” and has implemented the National Roadway Safety Strategy to tackle the issue. This strategy encompasses automated technologies, with Liu emphasizing their significance.

“Given all the safety attributes that have been incorporated into vehicles over time, my perspective is that the sole factor likely to greatly diminish roadway fatalities at this juncture is automation,” Liu stated.

And not automation in isolation.

“We must consider how to safeguard AV occupants. Perhaps passengers should not be seated facing forward. Maybe seatbelts and airbags require a different design,” Liu remarked. “In transportation, it is vital to maintain a systems perspective, and this new framework will highlight that.”