July 27th, 2015: Mcity, Michigan

[xoxoxoBruce]

There's a new town in town... Mcity, Michigan.
Hey, those buildings look like they belong in Rock Ridge. I wonder if they have a black sheriff?


Looks pretty new and shiny, sort of anti-Detroit. No litter or bird poop... or people.

Early this week, the University of Michigan together with Michigan Department of Transportation opened a new test environment that would enable car manufacturers and technology suppliers to test driverless cars in a controlled environment.

Called Mcity, this 32-acre simulation of urban and suburban environment is the first of its kind and includes a network of roads with intersections, traffic signs and signals, streetlights, fake building facades, sidewalks and obstacles such as construction barrier. Unlike public streets, many of Mcity's elements are movable that will allow engineers to rearrange the city’s layout to create complex intersections, blind corners and all kinds of conditions imaginable.

In addition, Mcity will also include robotic pedestrians that would pop out in front of traffic unexpectedly to see how well autonomous vehicles react.

Oh boy, suicidal robots. That's more gooder than those sissy humans who aren't willing to jump in front of vehicles for science.

At first glance it would appear the taxpayers of Michigan, via U of M, and MDOT, are financing the manufacturers testing and certification of their products. I guess it's a way for Michigan to keep an eye on these companies so they can't say, Oh yes, we tested everything and it's okey dokey, market ready. No, bitch, bring it here an show us.

They could also use this city to train SWAT teams. You know, in case those vicious Canadians invade.
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