It’s an unpredictable world. How will we ever possibly engineer a vehicle that can respond to whatever might happen on the open road? Developing a test facility exactly like the real world is a good start.

Mcity is a 32-acre simulated urban and suburban environment that includes a network of roads with intersections, traffic signs and signals, streetlights, building facades, sidewalks and construction obstacles. It is designed to support rigorous, repeatable testing of new technologies before they are tried out on public streets and highways.

In this 360 video tour of Mcity, Michigan Engineering grad Carrie Morton (BSE ME ’99, MSE ‘04) shows the facility where she is deputy director. Morton, who spent more than a decade working in industry, explains why Mcity is unique – and why driverless technology matters so much in the first place.