Cavnue’s Updated Self-Driving Car Corridor Runs Straight Through the 48111
Some seriously big news for the 48111… Cavnue, the smart infrastructure spin-out from Google, has announced the completion of a massive $130 million fundraising round, the inclusion of a host of industry-leading partners along with Phase 2 of its project to build dedicated lanes for autonomous vehicles here in South-East Michigan. Cavnue, together with input from the Michigan Depatment of Transportation, has slightly adjusted the master plan to initially prioritize the creation of a 25-mile test corridor on I-94 between Detroit and Ann Arbor. (Previously, the intention was to focus on Michigan Ave, which remains a key artery in the project.) While the specific segment of I-94 is yet to be disclosed, a large portion of Belleville Lake is mathematically assured to figure into the first-of-its-kind route.
After evaluating the feasibility of various CAV corridors, Cavnue and MDOT have identified an approximately 25-mile segment of Interstate 94 for the initial deployment that will serve as the country’s first corridor of tech-enabled infrastructure for connected and autonomous vehicles. Based on a study of traffic patterns and an assessment of existing infrastructure and investments made by the state and local communities, our identification of the I-94 segment signals MDOT’s continued commitment to the project and a commitment to closing long-standing gaps in access to transit and transportation across the region.
The agreement details a commitment to mutually develop an associated work plan, which provides for further traffic studies, environmental analysis, road design and operational planning, as well as public engagement and outreach exercises to ensure community involvement. Learnings and insight gathered from the I-94 deployment will be used to further evaluate a deployment on Michigan Avenue and potentially grow a network of CAV corridors connecting Southeast Michigan.
Cavnue Announces 25-Mile I-94 Testing Corridor
Our guess is that the 25-mile stretch runs from roughly the Warren St exit of I-94 near Detroit (avoiding the busy I-94/I-96 interchange) to the Willow Run / ACM / Rawsonville exit closer to Ann Arbor (where Amazon has just purchased a big piece of property on Belleville Lake just across from the Ford Rawsonville plant).
This new smart corridor is the real deal. SIP (not Google), Ford, Openvia, Globavia Group and Landstar are industry titans with a clear executable vision that will transform the major highway cutting through Belleville, running right along 8 miles of Belleville Lake (originally dammed by Edison & Ford), Willow Run (the federal airport where ww2 was won) and the increasingly essential American Center for Mobility. This offers Belleville, VBT and the Belleville Lake (dammed by Edison and Ford) communities a once-in-a-generation opportunity to pilot some of the most interesting connected mobility and metaverse projects on planet Earth and meaningfully build on Michigan's incredible auto manufacturing and design legacy.
So, buckle up Belleville! The most efficient development of autonomous vehicles and connected mobility platforms will require real-world use cases, real-world testing, real-world content, which all requires real-world buy-in. The nimble communities along the I-94 corridor can help to build critical apps atop this amazing new platform and be co-creators and co-developers of an awesome connected future, not just consumers and users.
