Education and Outreach

A critical element of Mcity’s mission is to inform and educate our partners and the general public about advanced mobility vehicles, and their potential benefit to society.

Sharing Knowledge

Mcity actively communicates with all levels of government, industry, and academia, as well as the general public, about the promise of connected and automated vehicles and the challenges they present. Our goal is to be a trusted voice of reason in the mobility space.

Learning with Mcity

Across the U-M campus, we are working to educate and train the next generation of leaders and innovators in mobility. Our efforts include:

Courses offered through various university schools and departments
Online courses for the general public: Self-Driving Cars Teach-Out
Professional development and continuing education: Connected and Automated Vehicles
Research funds available to U-M faculty
Student opportunities through Tech Lab at Mcity

Two students at m city test facility with pedestrian robot

Events and Tech Demos

We field many requests for visits and tours of the Mcity Test Facility as well as invitations to participate in talks and presentations. These include:

Media visits and special events in the Mcity Test Facility
Hosting government and industry groups – more than 50 events to date, most recently the U.S. General Services Administration and Administrator Robin Carnahan in July 2022
Participation in industry conferences, such as AutoMobili-D (AMD) at the annual North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) in Detroit. For AMD, Mcity and U-M coordinate with the state of Michigan’s Office of Future Mobility and Electrification (OFME), and the University Research Corridor, which represents Michigan’s three largest research universities: U-M, Michigan State University and Wayne State University
Speaking engagements – from talks with local civic organizations to keynotes at industry events
Public panel discussions, such as with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration

News & Events

Media event at Mcity 2017 video cameras and speakers

Providing Opportunities for Startups

Our outreach includes connecting mobility startups with U-M undergraduate students at TechLab at Mcity to tackle real challenges their businesses face. We also work with the state of Michigan’s Office of Future Mobility and Electrification (OFME) to offer startups opportunities to use the Mcity Test Facility at a reduced rate to develop their technologies through the Michigan Mobility Funding Platform.

Michigan Mobility Funding Platform

Publications

We publish white papers quarterly to share the work of Mcity-funded researchers, including their approach and conclusions. The first Mcity white paper focused on the development of a process to accelerate AV testing; a groundbreaking paper on identifying and assessing cybersecurity risks followed.

In addition, we collaborate with law firm members of Mcity to produce white papers focused on timely legal topics related to transforming mobility. The first, in 2018, was a joint project of former Mcity Affiliate member Miller Canfield, a Detroit-based international law firm, and current Affiliate member J.D. Power, a global market research firm, which studied consumer attitudes about where liability rests if a driverless vehicle crashes. In 2022, Covington & Burling LLP, a global law firm based in Washington D.C., and a member of Mcity’s Leadership Circle, is writing a series of four white papers about data concerns related to connected and automated vehicles and smart cities.

Check out Mcity’s white paper library.

Mcity also develops annual progress reports and publishes the Mcity Insight quarterly newsletter.

What We Are Learning

Mcity white paper: Assessing Risk

Media Relations

We increase awareness and understanding of CAVs among our key audiences through media relations. We host media visits, facilitate expert interviews, and share video and photo resources. We also invite journalists to Mcity for hands-on technology demonstrations.

Media Resources

Media Day at the Mcity Test Facility