This is just brave: With the rise of autonomous cars, a group of engineers from the Michigan State university are planning to build a “fake city” to for testing and simulating autonomous and semi-autonomous car. The project which they have been calling the Michigan Transformation Facility, features a four-way high way, intersections, traffic lights, and construction areas.
Wait, it gets cooler. These guys are not stopping there, they also plan to include robots for automated cyclists and pedestrians to simulate real-life traffic for these cars. In addition to all these, will be the testing software that will be used to simulate several random scenarios such as traffic light conditions and jay-walking.
Now I wonder if this simulated city will take into consideration utility damages, bad road networks, soft shoulders and also whether these robots can properly emulate the erratic nature of the human behavior as it relates road usage. A public interface of the city will be released in 2021, allowing ordinary traffic users (autonomous and non) to pass through the facility, experiencing the environment.
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