University of Michigan opens $10 million test "city" for autonomous cars

The University of Michigan has officially opened a simulated city that will be used to test driverless and connected vehicles.

The 32-acre site on the university's Ann Arbor campus has building facades, a roundabout, brick and gravel roads and other driving features. Researchers will be able to test how cars interact at an intersection or how signals work in a tunnel. The site also has a simulated highway on-ramp.

The $10 million site was several years in the making. It will be run by the Mobility Transformation Center, which is a partnership between the university, state and federal governments and auto companies.

The center's director, Peter Sweatman, says the site is one of the most advanced in the world and will speed up the development of driverless technology.