A test site on the campus of the University of Michigan might hold a glimpse into what our robot-filled future will look like. Set to open today, M City is a 32-acre playground for automakers that will test how a city filled with self-driving cars might function in real life. The $6.5 million landscape will pit the cars against suburban streets, highways, and rural roads, as well as unforeseen obstacles like traffic jams or pedestrians prancing across across medians (the test dummy, whose job it is to plunge in front of cars, is named Sebastian).
"We're replacing humans with machines and those machines need to be able to operate in a full, rich environment," the head of the Transportation Research Institute, Peter Sweatman, told Bloomberg.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Has World Book Day become a 'horror show'?Talking Point Annual event to encourage children to read for pleasure is sore spot for parents under 'growing pressure' to create character costumes
-
Festival of Sport announces exciting media partnership with The Week JuniorFestival of Sport, the UK’s premier family-friendly sports festival, has officially teamed up with The Week Junior as its exclusive media partner.
-
Bergerac: 'darker' reboot of the eighties crime dramaThe Week Recommends Irish actor Damien Molony takes over from John Nettles as the Jersey detective
-
Crafting emporium Joann is going out of businessSpeed Read The 82-year-old fabric and crafts store will be closing all 800 of its stores
-
Trump's China tariffs start after Canada, Mexico pausesSpeed Read The president paused his tariffs on America's closest neighbors after speaking to their leaders, but his import tax on Chinese goods has taken effect
-
Chinese AI chatbot's rise slams US tech stocksSpeed Read The sudden popularity of a new AI chatbot from Chinese startup DeepSeek has sent U.S. tech stocks tumbling
-
US port strike averted with tentative labor dealSpeed Read The strike could have shut down major ports from Texas to Maine
-
Biden expected to block Japanese bid for US SteelSpeed Read The president is blocking the $14 billion acquisition of U.S. Steel by Japan's Nippon Steel, citing national security concerns
-
Judges block $25B Kroger-Albertsons mergerSpeed Read The proposed merger between the supermarket giants was stalled when judges overseeing two separate cases blocked the deal
-
Rupert Murdoch loses 'Succession' court battleSpeed Read Murdoch wanted to give full control of his empire to son Lachlan, ensuring Fox News' right-wing editorial slant
-
Bitcoin surges above $100k in post-election rallySpeed Read Investors are betting that the incoming Trump administration will embrace crypto
