Opportunities to Encourage On-road Connected and Automated Vehicle Testing – Recommendations for the Saginaw Region

Full Description:

Connected and automated vehicle (CAV) technology has the potential to revolutionize transportation and mobility. For now, the most promising technologies are still being researched, developed, tested, and evaluated. This work is taking place across multiple industries, as well as in academia and the public sector. Before these technologies are widely deployed on public roads, they must be tested on public roads to assure safety and efficacy. Various states and municipalities have recently become known as hubs of on-road CAV testing. Michigan is among the national and global leaders in such efforts.

With collaboration across city, economic development, chamber of commerce, and corporate representatives, Saginaw is keen to continue its economic growth and position itself as a community highly engaged with connected, automated, and mobility technologies. The Saginaw team requested that the Center for Automotive Research (CAR) explore opportunities for the region to encourage on-road CAV testing.

This document provides recommendations for the Saginaw region to pursue toward creating an on-road CAV test environment and ideas for improving regional mobility overall.