University of Michigan Project Changes Course Due to Regulations The University of Michigan’s Transportation Research Institute’s Mcity is an advanced mobility research center. As a public-private partnership among the university, the city of Ann Arbor and dozens of other government and industry entities, it’s been focused on connected, automated technologies that are the backbone of intelligent transportation. While its work continues, regulatory shifts have forced a change. “We stood up dedicated short-range communication, a 5.9-megahertz dedicated band. Then the FCC came along and truncated our band and said you cannot use dedicated short-range communications anymore,” says Debra Bezzina, managing director for the Ann Arbor Connected Environment. “We had to recall all of the vehicles that we had deployed, and at that time, we had about 1,650 of them,” she says. “They all had to come back in and have their devices taken off. All 75 of the roadside units that were deployed in Ann Arbor had to be turned off.” DISCOVER: Modern networking solutions can enable smart city research. The research continues, but in a new form. “We have transitioned to a cellular-based solution: Cellular V2X, Vehicle to Everything. It’s still in the same band and it’s still direct communications, but this is based on cellular,” Bezzina says. Funding has come in the form of U.S. Department of Transportation grants, including one for the Smart Intersections Project that delivered $10 million in federal funding and a $10 million cost share. “That was to equip 21 intersections with C-V2X technology and perception systems, a combination of video cameras and LIDAR,” she says. Another project, the Ann Arbor Connected Environment Reimagined (or ACE 2.0) got about $12.5 million, with $10 million in federal funding and a $2.5 million cost share. “Then we have a third, smaller project, part of the city of