A fully digital twin of the real-world Mcity autonomous vehicle test facility located on the University of Michigan campus is now available for AV vehicle developers to download.
Funded by the National Science Foundation, the virtual environment includes several driving scenarios and conditions that allow AV developers the unprecedented ability to test their automated driving systems without the cost and complexity of building and testing an actual vehicle at the Ann Arbor Mcity facility.
“You can drive millions of miles in your AV in a digital twin built off of a real-world environment before your AV actually touches the real world,” said Darian Hogue, one of the Mcity software engineers who helped develop the digital twin, in a statement. “With this, we can control all kinds of factors. That includes controlling and manipulating simulated pedestrian traffic—a factor that is random in the real world.
“This focuses and accelerates simulated testing,” Hogue added.
Digital Twin of Mcity Includes Several Driving Scenarios and Obstacles
Although the UM researchers first began developing the Mcity digital twin virtual simulator in 2022, thanks to a $5.1 million grant from the National Science Foundation that also created the infrastructure for researchers to access the facility remotely, the physical facility it is based on was built in 2015. The University says the Mcity Test Facility “is the world’s first purpose-built proving ground for connected and automated vehicle.”
For optimized testing of vehicles designed to navigate the complex and dangerous situations faced in real-world driving scenarios, the facility was constructed with several aspects of an actual city. According to the Mcity team, these include:
- A simulated downtown area with urban streets.
- A 1,000-foot straightaway, access ramps, a curve, and a traffic circle.
- Multiple road surfaces with a variety of road markings and crossing types.
- Traffic signals and traffic signs.
- A bridge deck, underpass, guardrails, barriers, and crash attenuators.
- A house and garage exterior with an accessibility ramp for first-mile/last-mile testing, deliveries, and ride-hailing.
The newly available Mcity simulation includes all of the same obstacles and environments as the actual facility, allowing remote researchers to test their systems in the same environment and under the same varied conditions. The digital twin also incorporates the TeraSim open-source traffic simulator, which the Mcity team developed.
According to the Mcity team, this addition fills the digital urban testing environment with other road users, including pedestrians, cyclists, and other drivers. It also creates periodic “safety-critical” events like collisions to give the AV system situations it will encounter in the real world. Combined with the digital recreation of the physical Mcity facility, the package allows researchers to test AV software in the same way they would if they were at the physical facility.
“This takes our almost 10-year-old track and puts the digital replica directly over it,” said Greg Stevens, Mcity’s director of research. “That’s a living, breathing manifestation of that physical track where people can do mixed reality testing and development.”
Digital Simulator Lowers the Barriers to Testing
The release of the Mcity digital twin follows the team’s implementation of remote use capabilities in October. According to the team, that system allows engineers working from remote locations to “test their autonomous algorithms in virtual and mixed reality environments by connecting to Mcity’s cloud-based digital infrastructure.”
That remote connection also allows engineers to “control physical vehicles and traffic signals on Mcity’s test streets” with real-time data feedback, “all while protecting proprietary information.” Still, the team is quick to note that the new digital simulator is an entirely new advancement
“What differentiates the Mcity digital twin is that it supports virtual testing, while remote use involves testing a physical vehicle at our physical test track from a remote location,” said Mcity Director Henry Liu, professor of civil and environmental engineering and the Bruce D. Greenshields Collegiate Professor.
“As an open-source tool, the Mcity digital twin lowers barriers to use of the test facility by technology developers and researchers,” Liu added. “The digital twin could also help developers better prepare for on-site testing at Mcity.”
Researchers interested in the Mcity Digital Twin open-source simulator can download it here.
Christopher Plain is a Science Fiction and Fantasy novelist and Head Science Writer at The Debrief. Follow and connect with him on X, learn about his books at plainfiction.com, or email him directly at christopher@thedebrief.org.