Bicentennial
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Friday, September 15, 2017 — 11

March 29, 2016 - Far away from 

the hills and hot weather of Silicon 
Valley, where Google has made 
headlines with their driverless car 
testing, the University of Michigan 
is helping bring the national 
spotlight on the race to build 
driverless cars to the state.

On 
the 
University’s 
North 

Campus there’s a 32-acre urban 
environment with freeways, dirt 
roads, road signs and highway 
tunnels — known as “Mcity.” 
The field grabbed national and 
international attention when it 
opened in July 2015, becoming the 
world’s first site designed for the 
purpose of testing driverless cars.

But why here?
The University did not build 

Mcity alone. Mcity was designed 
and developed by the University’s 
Mobility Transformation Center, 
a research partnership between 
industry 
and 
government 
to 

improve 
transportation 
safety 

and sustainability. The Michigan 
Department 
of 
Transportation 

partnered with MTC to create 
and help fund Mcity, and the site is 
currently led by corporate partners 
like Ford, Toyota, State Farm 
Mutual Automobile Insurance and 
General Motors.

In partnership with prominent 

auto 
industries 
in 
Southeast 

Michigan and the city, state and 
federal 
governments, 
Mcity 

represents the ways local leaders 
are working to usher in a new era 
of transportation in the same area 
that Henry Ford redefined mobility 
over a century ago.

How the University leads 

driverless car development

Alongside 
Mcity’s 
various 

highways, intersections and dirt 
roads sit graffiti covered road signs, 
steep hills and building facades 
that can be brought just inches 
away from the road — all details 
meant to create life-like scenarios 
to challenge autonomous vehicles.

Ford became the first motor 

company to test an autonomous 
vehicle in Mcity in November 
2015, and they used the site again 
to challenge their technology in 
snowy conditions in January 2016.

Jim McBride, Ford technical 

leader for autonomous vehicles, 
said Mcity was an ideal site because 
of its simulated imperfection, 
creating odd scenarios driverless 
cars might experience in the real 
world.

“Mcity allows us the ability 

to create that situation and find 
a safe environment and test it 
repeatedly,” McBride said.

Creating all kinds of life-like 

challenges for driverless cars is 
exactly what Mcity was designed 
for, according to Huei Peng, 
director of MTC.

MTC and Mcity were created in 

an effort to expand development of 
automation and connected vehicles 
both at the University and in the 
state. Gradual steps in advancing 
non-driver controlled technology, 
as well as in connecting cars to 
each other and their environment 
like an Internet, are ways in which 
engineers are moving toward fully 
autonomous vehicles.

“Mcity is a test track designed to 

have future connected automated 
vehicle concepts in mind,” Peng 
said. 

Cars on the market today 

already have partially driverless 
vehicle features. Cruise control, 
automatic braking and assisted 
parking 
systems 
are 
features 

in a vehicle that occur without 
direct driver input, referred to as 
“automated.”

SAE International — originally 

founded 
as 
the 
Society 
of 

Automotive 
Engineers 
— 

characterizes 
the 
degree 
of 

automation in on-road vehicles in 
six levels, zero being completely 
driver-controlled and five being 
completely system-controlled. A 

driverless car is a vehicle with a 
system that controls all dynamic 
driving tasks under all roadway 
and environmental conditions.

Many cars on the road are at a 

level one standard for automation, 
and include features such as cruise 
control and automated braking. In 
the next few years, however, Peng 
said there will be an emergence of 
level two and level three features 
— like highway cruise, traffic jam 
assist and automated valet parking 
— in production vehicles.

Engineers 
of 
driverless 

cars 
are 
also 
developing 

wireless 
connection 
channels, 

called 
dedicated 
short-range 

communications, to allow cars to 
communicate with each other on 
the road. Peng explained that when 
personal computers are connected 
to each other, every PC becomes 
more useful; similarly, cars can 
reduce risk and improve efficiency 
if they connect to other vehicles.

“If we continue to broadcast the 

vehicle’s motion to other cars, it 
will make traffic safer, potentially 
more efficient, and (lead to) less 
energy consumption,” Peng said.

Even before Mcity garnered 

international 
attention, 
the 

University had been a pioneer in 
mobility transformation research.

Noting 
research 
on 
tire 

dynamics, engines and vehicle 
safety developed at the University, 
Peng said vehicle design and 
vehicle manufacturing have been 
pillars of strength at the College of 
Engineering for years.

“We have been the top, if not one 

of the top, automotive engineering 
research 
education 
providers 

among other universities in the 
world,” he said. “We will continue 
to do that; there is no reason we 
give up that tradition of strength.”

Michigan as a hotbed for 

mobility transformation

Since 
being 
elected 
to 

Congress in 2014, Sen. Gary 
Peters (D–Michigan) has joined 
the Senate Commerce, Science 
and Transportation Committee 
and 
has 
actively 
promoted 

legislation to allow for more 
funding to implement for vehicle-
to-infrastructure 
technology. 

According 
to 
Peters, 
these 

efforts are to ensure the state of 
Michigan’s influence in the future 
of mobility.

“This technology is incredibly 

important for our safety and it 
represents the future of the auto 
industry,” Peters said. “We have 
to make every effort to make sure 
it continues to be centered in 
Michigan.”

Alongside Peters’ efforts at the 

federal level, MDOT and state 
legislature have been proactive in 
allowing for driverless car testing 
on the roads. In December 2013, 
Gov. Rick Snyder (R) signed into 
law a bill approving the testing of 
driverless cars on Michigan roads, 
joining only a handful of other 
states in approving such legislation.

Matt Smith, program manager 

at MDOT, said because of the auto 
industry’s location within the state, 
the Michigan state legislature has 
allowed for automated vehicle 
research on state roads long before 
driverless cars existed.

“The state of Michigan has 

allowed experimental technology 
on roadways for many, many 
years,” Smith said.

Even within Ann Arbor, local 

government 
has 
pushed 
for 

testing experimental automated 
technology. 
In 
2013, 
Ann 

Arbor City Council approved a 
$622,884 federal grant to install 
telecommunications fiber, sensors 
and 
electronic 
equipment 
in 

public intersections to allow for 
vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-
infrastructure communication in 
driverless cars.

Peters said the reason legislators 

are 
interested 
in 
pursuing 

autonomous technology in the 
state is to keep jobs related to the 
auto industry within Michigan.

Kevin Kerrigan, senior vice 

president 
of 
the 
Michigan 

Economic 
Development 

Corporation, 
noted 
that 
the 

automotive industry continues to 
be the largest industry in Michigan, 
attracting many businesses and 
growing local jobs. Currently, one 
out of every 24 jobs in the state 
comes from the auto industry, 
according to the Mackinac Center 
for Public Policy. Jobs within the 
auto industry increased by 67 
percent after the recession ended, 
compared to 10.6 percent gain in 
all jobs.

“A big percentage of jobs in 

Michigan are directly related to 
the auto industry,” Peters said. 

“If we were to lose some of 

the technological advantage of 
advanced 
computer 
systems 

related to cars, I would be 
concerned we would start losing 
automotive jobs to a different 
region of the country.”

McBride said Ford’s interest 

in 
pursuing 
driverless 
car 

development was in part to 
ensure the company stays relevant 
when the technology advances. 
Kodak and Nokia, he said, are 
examples 
of 
companies 
that 

could not adapt to the changes 
in the telecommunication and 
digital world, which led to their 
breakdowns.

“It’s very relevant right now 

that we maintain ownership of 
the software and ownership of the 
technology if we want to be viable 
in the future of transportation 
industry,” McBride said. “Every 
company wants to be relevant 
in the long term, and that’s not 
different for Ford.”

Michigan has recently taken a 

step further in leading the charge 
for automated and connected 
vehicles 
by 
announcing 
the 

American Center for Mobility 
in January — a joint partnership 
between government, business 
and University leaders to help build 
another driverless car testing site 
— this time, at 335 acres. The new 
site will be placed in Willow Run, 
where B-24 bombers were made 
for troops in a Henry Ford factory 
during World War II.

John Maddox, assistant director 

of MTC and recently named 
president and CEO of ACM, said 
the new testing site was designed 
due to the success and demand of 
Mcity. While Mcity is primarily 
designed 
to 
test 
early 
stage 

research, once vehicles “graduate” 
from the smaller testing site, they 
can use the larger testing site for 
product development.

Maddox 
said 
Michigan’s 

location as the birthplace and 
home to the auto industry is one 
of a kind in the world, and puts the 
state in the center of driverless car 
development.

“There 
is 
a 
significant 

concentration of expertise and 
activity happening in Southeast 
Michigan,” Maddox said. “In fact, I 
would say it’s unique in the world, 
not just in the United States, for 
having such a concentration in a 
local area of so many companies 
and individuals and universities 
working 
on 
this 
automotive 

technology.”

The future of autonomous 

vehicles and robotics

When 
asked 
whether 
the 

emergence 
of 
connected, 

autonomous vehicles will lead to a 
transportation revolution similar 
to when Henry Ford helped bring 
cars to the mass market in 1908, 
Maddox said no — it would be 
bigger.

He equated the growth of 

connected, driverless cars to how 
the Internet helped connect people 
in new ways, and brought about 
new job opportunities. In the same 
way, he said, autonomous vehicles 
have the potential to transform 
mobility to allow for a whole new 
economic sector.

The City That Runs Itself: 
Mcity and the Future of 
Automated Transportation

October 6, 2016 - After over a 

year of planning, The University 
of Michigan launched its five-year 
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion 
strategic plan Thursday morning.

The 
University-wide 
plan 

includes 
49 
individual 
unit 

plans, which are individualized 
for the schools, colleges and 
administrative, 
athletic 
or 

other departments within the 
University.

“The campus-wide plan is a 

set of actions for today,” Schlissel 
said. “We cannot live up to our full 
potential as a University unless 
everyone has an equal opportunity 
to contribute and to benefit.”

Three key themes tie together 

the University-wide initiatives 
to the operational unit plans: 
creating an inclusive and equitable 
campus 
climate, 
developing 

a 
diverse 
community, 
and 

supporting inclusive scholarship 
and teaching. At the plan’s 
introduction Thursday morning 
in the Power Center, Schlissel said 
the University will commit $85 
million over the next five years 
to fund DEI efforts, in addition 
to the current annual fund of $40 
million a year.

Nearly 700 audience members 

attended the introduction, though 
student attendance was noticeably 
low in comparison to the full 
student body, a common factor 
in 
many 
University-sponsored 

diversity events.

Rob 
Sellers, 
current 
vice 

provost of equity, inclusion and 
academic affairs — who may serve 
as 
the 
University’s 
inaugural 

chief diversity officer pending 
Board of Regents approval later 
this month — presented a short 
executive summary of the plan. 
Unit-level actions specified include 
recruitment efforts like Wolverine 
Pathways — a program giving local 
high schoolers of underrepresented 
minorities the chance to earn a 
tuition scholarships — and new 
investments in urban schools and 
underrepresented 
populations 

such as first-generation and Native 
American students.

Additionally, students, faculty 

and staff will all undergo some 
form of intercultural training, 
with special emphasis on DEI 
professional development for the 
University’s deans and executive 
leadership team.

Sellers said the plan’s success 

rests on commitment from all 
levesls of campus community.

“I accept this position, but in 

no way does this fall on me alone,” 
he said, pointing in particular to 
his recommendation of creating a 
chief diversity officer. “It takes a 
village to raise a plan.”

Many of the morning session’s 

speakers, 
including 
Schlissel, 

Sellers, Provost Martha Pollack 
and Regent Mike Behm (D), made 
references to a series of racially 
charged incidents on campus 
in the last few weeks, which 
prompted a series of student 
protests.

After anti-Black, anti-LGBTQ 

and anti-Muslim flyers were 
posted 
on 
Central 
Campus, 

multiple student protests and 
statements have criticized the 
administration’s DEI initiative 
as too farsighted and lacking in 
immediate solutions.

Pollack said recent events 

highlight 
the 
urgency 
and 

importance of the DEI strategic 
plan.

“It’s only human to respond 

with anger and sometimes with 
fear, emotions that have been felt 
deeply on this campus,” she said. 
“I share the grief and outrage 
felt by our students, faculty and 
staff. We must cling to the vision 
of what the world must be ... and 
that is what the Diversity, Equity 
and Inclusion plan is all about.”

In response to the fliers, 

Schlissel 
held 
a 
community 

conversation Sunday afternoon 
and 
also 
debuted 
several 

administrative 
changes 
at 
a 

leadership breakfast Wednesday 
morning 
tied 
to 
the 
plan, 

including two student advisory 
groups on race and the creation 
of the chief diversity officer.

“In recent weeks, ugly and vile 

hatred have singled out groups 
in our community and sought 
to divide us,” Schlissel said 
Thursday. “We have to learn from 
our failures and mistakes ... our 
Michigan is better for it.”

Behm also acknowledged the 

importance of student activism in 
motivating some of these changes, 
and 
affirmed 
the 
Regents’ 

commitment to the plan’s success.

“We want U of M to be a place 

where there is no doubt everyone 
in our community belongs,” he 
said. “Honest conversations about 
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion 
are difficult.”

University launches diversity 
strategic plan after year of planning

Read more at 
MichiganDaily.com

ALLANA AKHTAR

 Daily News Editor

RIYAH BASHA
 Daily Staff Reporter

AMELIA CACCHIONE/Daily

DEI Officer Latisha Cunningham speaks at the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion 
forum for staff members at Lorch Hall on September 26, 2016.

SAM MOUSIGIAN/Daily

FE ATURE D PEOPLE

“We are provided with so many 
resources from all of the people that 
came before us. For example, for 
the Muslim Students Association, 
we are one of the oldest MSA’s to 
ever form in the U.S. The fact that 
we had people 60 years ago with 
the vision to come and form these 
organizations that we today have 
that available to us, that’s why the 
Bicentennial is so important to me. 
It’s not just a number, it’s the rich 
history that is associated with 200 
years of innovators, of scientists, of 
people who really cared and were 
passionate about what they did 
and invested it in their four years 
here and even after when they were 
alumni.”
Engineering senior Ahsan Ansari, 
Vice President of Internal Affairs of 
Muslim Students’ Association

“A timeless truth — the best 
way to see forward is to look 
backward. At a time when the 
nation seems to be slipping 
backward, the University’s 
Bicentennial is an opportunity 
to reflect on how far we have 
come and realize just how 
critical our leadership will be 
for the future.”
Zachary Ackerman, Ann Arbor 
City Councilman (D-Ward 3)

COURTESY OF ZACHARY ACKERMAN

2005 — Playwright and alum 

Arthur Miller dies

2009 — Abandoned Pfizer lot 

purchased and turned into the North 

Campus Research Complex

2010 — Barack Obama gives 

commencement address

2010 — Chris Armstrong becomes the first 

openly gay person elected Central Student 

Government president

2011 — University starts third century 

initiative to inspire innovative programs that 

enhance learning experiences and develop 

creative approaches to the world’s greatest 

challenges

2008 — The Board of Regents approves the decision to 

negotiate the purchase of the former Pfizer pharmaceutical 

research campus, expanding North Campus

2006 — Prop 2 bans affirmative 

action in the state of Michigan