Mcity in the News
In recent weeks, local and national media have sought out Mcity experts to discuss news related to AVs and AV safety. In addition Henry Liu, former Mcity director who know leads the U-M Transportation Research Institute, and Greg McGuire, Mcity managing director, wrote an opinion piece about AV safety testing needs that was published in The Hill, a Washington, DC-based publication that covers Capital Hill.
Check out the stories below.
May 14: Waymo recalls more than a thousand driverless cars. Henry Liu, director of the U-M Transportation Research Institute, which Mcity became part of in March, was interviewed by NBC News about the recent recall of Waymo driverless shuttles susceptible to being involved in minor collisions. Liu, former director of Mcity, said the recall was not a major setback for Waymo or the AV industry, but the situation highlights a fundamental scientific challenge for AVs that has not yet been resolved.
June 3: Autonomous vehicles should have to pass a driver’s test, just like anyone else. Henry Liu and Greg McGuire wrote an opinion piece for The Hill that called on federal legislators and policymakers to craft federal AV safety testing guidelines to help reassure consumers that the technology is safe. Consumer confidence in AV safety has remained persistently low since the first fatal crashes involving AVs in 2018. Unless consumers believe AVs are safe, Liu and McGuire wrote, it will be difficult to put these vehicles on the road in sufficient numbers to realize the benefits they promise: safer roads, reduced emissions, greater access to transportation options for all.
June 16: Toyota’s safety research arm notches a milestone at precarious time for transportation studies. This story in Automotive News is about Toyota Motor Corp.’s work funding research and the outlook for government research funding, now under pressure as the Trump Administration looks to cut costs. Toyota has completed 100 studies in the 14 years since it opened its Collaborative Safety Research Center, according to the story, which may make it an exception among car companies. Mcity’s Greg McGuire told Automotive News that what he’s seen with the companies Mcity has worked with “is a retreat from some of the exploratory funding and earlier-stage research that they used to do. If they’re not doing it in-house, they’re not as interested.”
June 21: What to expect when (or if) Elon Musk launches a Tesla robotaxi service. Mcity Research Director Greg Stevens, who was chief engineer of advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS) for Ford Motor Co. before coming to Mcity, is quoted in a story by NBC News in an online story about the Tesla robotaxi launch. Stevens said he’s glad the company is starting small. “As an engineer, I’m a real fan of small launches. Keep it simple in the beginning: launch a small number of vehicles and watch them very, very closely.”