That includes deploying “cellular vehicle-to-everything” or C-V2X technology at an additional 51 sites throughout the city, said Cynthia Redinger, a city transportation engineer, describing it as a way to improve transportation safety and network efficiency.
City Council voted 10-0 Tuesday night, Sept. 2, to approve the city’s continued partnership with UM to research smart technologies and expand the testing environment.
C-V2X technology uses cellular networks for vehicle-to-vehicle, vehicle-to-infrastructure and other communication.
“This is regarding the University of Michigan’s center for advanced transportation technology and innovation, known as UMTRI,” said Council Member Jenn Cornell, D-5th Ward, referring to UM’s Transportation Research Institute.
“Ann Arbor has long been a living lab for startups and for emerging technologies and I think it’s pretty awesome to see that this technology that is being developed in Ann Arbor will also join private-sector companies that are choosing to do this type of research, development and testing in Ann Arbor,” she said. “It’s exciting to know that we are a place where a technology-based and innovation-based economy is successful.”
UM has been awarded federal funding under the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Highway Research and Development Program as part of the Advanced Transportation Technology and Innovation or ATTAIN program, Redinger said.
“The total project cost is $12.7 million, including $9.85 million in federal grant monies and $2.8 million in contributions by project recipients,” she wrote in a memo to council, noting the project started in 2024 and is expected to last into 2027.
UM asked the city to participate as a partner and a sub-recipient of the federal grant, Redinger said, explaining the city’s total cost for work on the project will be $147,425 and the city will receive a $121,285 reimbursement via the grant sub-award.
The city is expected to participate in project meetings, provide design input on the network and intersection devices, support installation and traffic signal configuration, deploy a firewall to accommodate smart intersection network communication needs, support data transmission and collection, and more.
UM began its first connected-vehicle pilot project in the North Campus area in 2012, recruiting 2,800 residents and drivers for local companies to participate in a major vehicle-to-vehicle communication experiment: cars that talk to each other.
Wireless communication devices were installed in volunteers’ vehicles and at local roadside and intersection locations, creating one of the largest smart-car deployments ever conducted. The devices could audibly and visually alert drivers when safety threats approached, with the aim of avoiding crashes.
UMTRI and the city later partnered to expand the deployment area to include the entire city, with additional infrastructure, including pedestrian detection at mid-block crosswalks, curve speed warning devices, and ice-warning detection systems.
The latest extension of those efforts that went through council Tuesday night is dubbed the Ann Arbor Connected Environment 2.0, or the Ann Arbor Connected Environment Reimagined Project. UM’s project website calls it the national reference for C-V2X technology, setting the benchmark for commercial deployment and large-scale adoption and establishing a trusted framework for delivering certified infrastructure intelligence to all road users.
As the Ann Arbor connected environment is retrofitted with C-V2X technology, each equipped intersection will be certified to meet the Institute of Transportation Engineers connected intersection design guidelines, the project website states, saying methods will be developed to maintain intersections at a certified level.
“As a team, we commit to understanding the goals and expectations of our sponsor, the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT),” the mission statement reads. “This requires being a trusted partner to USDOT and fostering an open, honest, and respectful relationship to enable us to work together as one team.”
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