The nation’s first “connected construction zone” is right here in metro Detroit. It’s a 3 mile stretch of I-75 set up to test technology for the smart and autonomous vehicles of the future.
If you’ve driven along I-75 between Coolidge and M-59, you’ve probably seen the unique construction zone signs. Soon your car will see them too.
“It’s taking transportation to another level! It’s really like the next revolution in transportation,” says Rob Morosi, a spokesman for the Michigan Department of Transportation.
MDOT partnered with 3M, allowing the company to install advanced infrastructure on and along 3 miles of I-75 to provide a space for other auto mobility developers to test out how well transportation infrastructure communicates with new technology being designed for smart and autonomous vehicles.
New construction signs have messages for both people and cars. When us humans read “Left Lane Closed 2 Miles”, a vehicle’s camera reads the 2D code near the sign and receives the same information.
A new type of striping on the pavement, is intended to let advanced technology vehicles know where the lanes are.
2D codes are embedded into construction worker vests and construction barrels that lets vehicles know whether it’s a person or a piece of plastic standing on the side of the road.
“That level of scale is not being done anywhere else in the nation, we’re the first to do it,” says Morosi.
3M has paid for everything. No tax dollars have been used for this project.
In the past month a number of manufacturers have been driving vehicles down this stretch of road to test out and tweak the advanced technology. To make sure the infrastructure and the vehicle are communicating properly.
As more and more elements of vehicles become automated, the need for road infrastructure to support that technology grows.
So I-75 in some ways, is the freeway of the future! While some of this tech will be used in autonomous vehicles one day, MDOT wants you to know, there are still driver’s behind every wheel.
