A fully autonomous shuttle bus will be implemented at Oakland University’s campus following a $103,600 PlanetM Mobility grant from the Michigan Economic Development Corporation.

Automotive manufacturer Continental, in partnership with autonomous vehicle technology company EasyMile and the city of Auburn Hills, will launch the pilot at the university this fall. The shuttle will be run by students while data gathered during the pilot program will be used in autonomous engineering courses.

- Advertisement -

Continental utilizes a similar bus on their Auburn Hills campus, according to Louay Chamra, Ph.D., dean of the School of Engineering and Computer Science at OU.

“This is all about changing the culture,” Chamra said. “It’s a new technology and a lot of people still need to get used to autonomous vehicles being in their lives, because this is the future. We have to accept that and I think one of the best ways to do that is to introduce it to a campus.”

The city of Auburn Hills and Continental have recently been in talks to develop a smart intersection in the city’s downtown, according to Chamra, among other technologies. Oakland University will serve as a hub and a home for the autonomous shuttle program as the team monitors its usage. It will drive the same route around campus as the university’s current shuttle service.

“As we talked about bringing this to the university and the city, we decided phase one should run in a controlled environment, where the campus-wide speed limit is low,” Chamra said. “This starts here with collecting data and testing acceptance of the technology, but it may eventually be on the streets of Auburn Hills.”

The grant will be used to build and deliver the shuttle, which will sit between 15 and 20 people.

READ ALSO:

+2 Harvard University’s Poetry in America eyes Pontiac schools for program model Twenty students at Pontiac’s International Technology Academy can now call themselves Harvard University scholars, thanks to a partnership bet…

+2 Whitmer names appointees to educator advisory council Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has announced her appointments to the Governor’s Educator Advisory Council.