The University of Michigan will make research vehicles available at its Mcity proving ground as open testbeds for academic and industry researchers to experiment with self-driving and connected vehicle technologies.

The open connected and automated research vehicles (CAVs)—equipped with sensors, including radar, LIDAR and cameras—will be able to link to a robot operating system. An open development platform for connected vehicle communications will be added later.

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Research vehicles are equipped with sensors, including radar, LIDAR and cameras. Image credit: University of Michigan"By providing a platform for faculty, students, industry partners and startups to test connected and automated vehicle technologies, open CAVs will break down technology barriers and dramatically speed up innovation," says Carrie Morton, deputy director of the university's Mobility Transformation Center (MTC), which operates Mcity.

Currently, auto companies are leading development efforts. While making key advances, they are doing so on proprietary systems. MTC says it believes the lack of open testbeds has the potential to hinder technology growth and uptake.

According to MTC Director Huei Peng, professor of mechanical engineering, the open CAVs will be completely adaptable. Researchers can bring in their own hardware and swap out any sensor or create advanced controls to take advantage of various sensor technologies already on the vehicles.

MTC's first open CAV is a Lincoln MKZ sedan powered by PolySync's autonomy platform. Two Kia Soul compact crossovers will be installed with PolySync's Open Source Car Control kit, which enables complete "drive-by-wire" control.

MTC will add dedicated short-range communications capabilities to the vehicles to support the development of connected applications. With such capabilities, vehicles can anonymously and securely "talk" to each other via wireless communications similar to Wi-Fi to improve safety.