The Canadian province of Ontario means to play its own big role in self-driving technology. Earlier this year, General Motors announced that it would create up to 1,000 engineering jobs, many focused on autonomous driving software development, in a suburb of Toronto.
And this month, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau officially opened Black Berry's self-driving research center in Ottawa. It is based around a company formerly known as QNX Software Systems, which has a long history as a supplier to auto companies.
Back in Michigan, Ford is expanding its autonomous car efforts at its headquarters in Dearborn. It has built 30 self-driving cars and aims to have a fully automated car, with no steering wheel or pedals, in volume production by 2021. Ford intends for those cars to be first used in urban ride-hailing fleets.
The University of Michigan has created a 32-acre center for testing self-driving vehicles in Ann Arbor. Called MCity, the 32-acre facility has streets, intersections, traffic lights and road signs that provide a realistic environment where companies can hone autonomous vehicles before putting them on public roads.
The university has also broken ground on a 335-acre site that was once the home of a World War II bomber factory.
Michigan's new laws allow the testing of autonomous vehicles that have no steering wheel or gas and brake pedals. California prohibits testing of such cars on public roads. Michigan is also allowing more extensive testing of autonomous trucks travelling in groups.
“There's the wrangling going on between the tech companies and the authorities in California over what is and what isn't allowed,” said Karl Brauer, a senior editor at Kelley Blue Book, an automotive research firm. “Meanwhile, in Michigan, you get the sense that it's：‘What can we do to help you?’”
General Motors, the biggest American automaker, said this month that it planned to soon begin testing its autonomous vehicles on Michigan roads.
The company added that it would also build its first units of a self-driving Chevrolet Bolt - already available as an all-electric car for human drivers - at an assembly plant in the Detroit suburb of Orion Township. G.M. is not saying when self-driving cars will be available for sale, but that it expects the Bolt will initially be for ride-hailing services.
The addition of autonomous vehicles early next year may help secure the long-term future of the Orion Township plant, which makes the Chevrolet Sonic subcompact as well as the Bolt.
G.M.'s decision to centralize its production of self-driving models in Orion Township is a big step toward making Michigan a manufacturing hub for autonomous cars.
