$22 million wireless communication car project to kick off Tuesday in Ann Arbor

A much anticipated trial testing cars ability to wirelessly communicate with one another will get underway in Ann Arbor Tuesday morning. Cars participating in the Univeristy of Michigan Transportation Reasearch Institute’s joint project with the United States Department of Transportation will be outfitted with technology that can record and transmit the speed and location of the vehicles.

The rollout of the program, a $22 million collaboration between UMTRI and the USDOT will feature remarks from Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood, Governor Rick Snyder, and U-M vice president of research Stephen Forrest.

Approximately 300 of 2,800 cars currently signed up for the experiment will be ready to hit the road at the official launch Tuesday. The rest are expected to be completed by mid-October, UMRTI director of marketing and communication Francine Romine said.

The institute is still accepting applications for the program and hopes to have about 3,000 cars using the technology on the road daily in the 48105 zip code area of Northeast Ann Arbor.

“About two-thirds of the participants will be individuals who live or work in that zip code, and we worked with the Ann Arbor Public Schools to find a lot of those participants,” Romine said.

UMTRI sent targeted communication to parents with children at Huron High School, Clague Middle School, and Northside, Logan, King, and Thurston elementary schools.

“People who have kids in school tend to put on a lot of miles back and forth from the school and work. So when we partner with the school system, we’re getting people who will be going through the deployment area very often,” she said.

Con-way, Arbor Springs, and Metro Delivery also will have their delivery vehicles that frequently drive through the area outfitted with the devices as part of the experiment.

All vehicles involved in the survey will have devices that transmit information, but only about 300 will have the aftermarket safety device that receives messages from other cars as well. Romine said data will be gathered from all vehicles, but the data from the cars with the ASD devices will be particularly useful.

Participants in the study will receive $200 for participating for a full year, including two trips to UMTRI for a data chip to be removed and replaced. As part of the participation of AAPS, parents will be given the option to donate the money directly to their school’s PTO fund.

Eight auto manufactures from around the globe, including Ford, Toyota, and Volkswagen, will provide eight cars each to the experiment. The special vehicles have the wireless connectivity technology built in to the car.

This video explains how UTMRI and the USDOT hope the new technology will help make driving safer:

Ben Freed covers business for AnnArbor.com. Reach him at 734-623-2528 or email him at benfreed@annarbor.com. Follow him on twitter @BFreedinA2