Smart car research aims to create some more jobs smartly in Washtenaw County.
Excerpt:
A new collaboration between the state and the Michigan International Speedway to establish a testing ground for next-generation connected vehicle technologies could help the state attract private sector interest and generate thousands of badly needed new jobs, officials announced Monday.
Business Review reported Friday that the Brooklyn-based racing track will get a second life as a proving ground for technologies that allow automobiles to wirelessly communicate both with one another and with road infrastructure. The technology, which is already offered on some production vehicles in the form of lane-departure and blind-spot detection systems, could drastically reduce crash-related fatalities and improve traffic flow on public roads.
Officials during a news conference today in Detroit said connected vehicle technologies offer great promises to help reduce traffic congestion and improve energy efficiency of vehicles, boost road safety by preventing crashes and decrease vehicle warranty costs by transmitting vehicle diagnostics in real time to manufacturers.
"I have never seen anything with quite the size of the carrot as exists when we're talking about the connected vehicle and the highway and the different things that we can do," said Dave Cole, chairman of Ann Arbor-based Center for Automotive Research, which is partnering in the effort.
"We're talking about 10,000 jobs plus here in the state of Michigan related to what's going on and with the kinds of initiatives that are being taken today by those that are here," Cole said. "This is pretty special."
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