ANN ARBOR – The State of Michigan’s Chief Mobility Officer Trevor Pawl explains how a 24-month study will be used to build a 40-mile stretch of sensor-laded corridor from Ann Arbor to Corktown in Detroit to test autonomous and connected vehicle technology. The state has partnered with Alphabet, the parent company of Google and Waymo.

Governor Gretchen Whitmer has announced an initiative to develop a first-of-its-kind corridor for connected and autonomous vehicles designed to improve transportation for communities in Southeast Michigan, with a focus on closing long-standing gaps in access to transit and transportation across the region.

Cavnue, a subsidiary of Sidewalk Infrastructure Partners (SIP) with a focus on building the future of roads, has been selected by the state of Michigan to oversee the first phase of the corridor project. This public-private partnership aims to access the opportunity and viability of this project, working with state and local partners, stakeholders, and communities across the corridor from Detroit to Ann Arbor.

“Today, we are taking the initial steps toward enabling the world’s first corridor-level infrastructure that will support deployment of connected and autonomous vehicles in a fully autonomous mode. With that opportunity also comes a responsibility to advance our state’s technology and the automotive landscape in a way that also has the potential to improve the quality of life for countless individuals in Michigan,” said Governor Whitmer.

The announcement took place near Michigan Central Station in Corktown, a key anchor along potential routes for the corridor, which Ford Motor Company purchased in 2018. The Station will be the center point of a new mobility innovation district in Corktown. The goal of the mobility innovation district is to solve tomorrow’s transportation challenges and improve mobility access for everyone.

As the world stands at the precipice of the biggest shift in transportation in more than a century, this project solidifies Michigan’s leadership as the global hub for mobility innovation.