Both Interstate 94 and Michigan Avenue between Detroit and Ann Arbor, Michigan, would be redesigned to run a dedicated lane for, among other things, cars. Sensors and cameras added to the roads would help the cars to better understand their surroundings. Physical barriers can also be added, which would make it easier for the cars to drive safely, as the location of pedestrians and cyclists could be limited.
The exact route of the project has also not yet been determined. Sidewalk Infrastructure Partners would pay the yet-to-be-determined initial costs to install the new infrastructure, and Michigan is open to the possibility of paying for maintenance costs as the project progresses.
“We believe this is a transformative project for Michigan, and worldwide,” Michigan Chief Mobility Officer Trevor Pawl told CNN Business. “Mobility is fundamental to the history of our city and critical to our future.” He noted that there have been nearly 10,000 fatal car accidents in Michigan in the last decade, adding that he expects cars to drive themselves to improve safety.
The self-driving sector and governments have increased willingness to change urban infrastructure to make it easier to deploy cars quickly. In Las Vegas, traffic lights have been redesigned to warn the self-driving cars that Aptiv and Lyft test as they change colors so that the cars can navigate intersections more easily.
Winer said it was unclear how much it would cost to re-adjust roads for self-driving cars, but he said his best advice is $ 10 million per mile. It could be significantly more or less, he said.
Whether roads can be constructed at a cost-effective level is critical to the project being executed. After two years of testing, the sides will determine if they need to move forward with building the 40 miles. Winer said his company is also considering nationwide projects.
Pawl said Michigan was open to paying costs to maintain any new infrastructure, and would seek federal funding to do so.
Over the next six months, self-driving cars will be tested between Detroit and Ann Arbor on the existing roads.
Over the next two years, a test mile of one mile of modified road would be built at the American Center for Mobility, an organization based outside Ann Arbor that tests self-driving cars.
The project leaders say the self-driving routes will include buses, and they expect transportation to improve for everyone by offering faster, safer travel. Winer said if transit and congestion were not improved in initial tests, the project would not move forward.
Pawl said Michigan is cautious about implementing self-driving cars. He said new jobs could be created with autonomous buses, such as remote operators and someone to check the buses and greet riders.
He said the state is also considering other issues, such as emergency vehicles and pedestrian crossings.
“Let’s say it’s part of the AV job [has a barrier]. “How does one ambulance like someone who has to go over it right away,” Pawl said. Those are things we really need to think about in order to get this right. “
Pawl said the state of Michigan would seek after the federal government guidelines to determine if a self-driving car is safe enough to operate in the reserved routes. But Congress is slowly moving over regulations on self-driving cars amid concerns about safety, privacy and the role of state and local governments. Jason Levine, executive director of the Center for Auto Safety, said he did not expect autonomous car legislation to move forward this year.
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