By CSEE staff Published April 27, 2026 Faculty from the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences are continuing collaborative efforts with the University of Michigan and its Mcity test facility. This research partnership includes Chaozhe He, assistant professor in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering; Austin Angulo, assistant professors in Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering (CSEE); Irina Benedyk, assistant professors in CSEE; and Kevin Hulme, program manager for the Stephen Still Institute for Sustainable Transportation and Logistics (SS ISTL) at the University at Buffalo (UB). UB researchers are expanding Mcity’s existing virtual and physical testing infrastructure by integrating human-in-the-loop, multimodal simulators, including micromodalities such as driving, pedestrian and bicycle, to develop safe and realistic testing environments for dynamic interactions between connected and autonomous vehicles and humans. Through an active research award led by He, UB has had access to Mcity since late 2024. This access includes both the physical test track and an authentic “digital twin” replica of the facility for simulation testing. The collaboration has enabled advanced integration of human participants within virtual environments and the development of mixed reality testing capabilities using UB’s Transportation Research and Visualization Laboratory (TRAVL), a groundbreaking new research facility from the SS ISTL. TRAVL enables examination of interactions between connected autonomous vehicles and human drivers, bicyclists and pedestrians. The research team made significant progress throughout 2025, culminating in a capability demonstration marking Mcity’s 10th anniversary last October. The demonstration featured a crosswalk scenario involving interaction between a vehicle and a pedestrian. UB researchers remotely interacted with a live vehicle on the Mcity test track using advanced pedestrian and driving simulators at the TRAVL facility. The collaboration is ongoing, with current work focused on additional mixed reality egress scenarios aimed at increasing the safety and efficiency of human mobility. The focus on digital twin testing in