Skip to main content

Xerox and University of Michigan partner on urban mobility

Xerox is to form a three-year partnership with the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI) to help shape the future of urban mobility across the country. The ultimate goal is to demonstrate how emerging automotive information-based systems and communications capabilities enable improved transaction-based business processes.
May 8, 2014 Read time: 2 mins
4186 Xerox is to form a three-year partnership with the 5647 University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI) to help shape the future of urban mobility across the country. The ultimate goal is to demonstrate how emerging automotive information-based systems and communications capabilities enable improved transaction-based business processes.

In collaboration with the 324 US Department of Transportation (USDOT), MTC will develop a 30-acre simulated city called the Mobility Transformation Facility (MTF), which will be the largest on-road vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure test environment in the world.

Xerox will support the MTC’s research through its proprietary transportation offerings and data analytic capabilities, focusing on: integration of mobile device and automotive information-based systems for transaction management solutions, such as tolling and smart parking; integration of smart parking applications into automotive information-based systems through the Xerox Merge platform; integration and analysis of data provided by the USDOT’s Safety Pilot Model Deployment program to identify new opportunities in areas such as fleet performance monitoring, driver behaviour, road infrastructure quality and vehicle health and diagnostics; MTC’s independent testing and assessment of Xerox offerings’ performance, including Xerox’s recently announced vehicle passenger detection system, an HOV/HOT lane compliance test system that uses video analytics to identify the number of occupants in a vehicle.

Construction of the MTF is slated for completion by September 2014. UMTRI plans to establish a network of more than 20,000 connected and automated vehicles on the streets of south-eastern Michigan by 2021.

“Today, with the growing trend of urbanisation, the transportation systems that move people, goods and services around the world pose significant environmental, economic and social challenges,” said David Amoriell, vice president and chief operating officer, Government and Transportation Sector, Xerox. “The research conducted and data collected by Xerox and UMTRI will be critical in the worldwide reduction of vehicle collisions, energy consumption and carbon emissions, while improving overall urban mobility and quality of life.”

Related Content

  • Four predictions for the automotive and transportation industry
    May 30, 2012
    Frost & Sullivan has released the results from its customer survey with several hundred companies conducted in December 2011, executed to find out the top predictions for 2012 for the global automotive and transportation market. Market growth in all regions except Europe, accelerated introduction of plug in hybrid and battery electric vehicles due to increasing fuel prices, mobility and integrated transportation as well as the integration of the smart phone with dedicated application stores and innovative H
  • VW presents electric mobility research
    April 23, 2012
    Volkswagen, in cooperation with six project partners and the German Ministry of the Environment, is presenting the current status of the ‘Fleet study in electric mobility’ that was initiated in July 2008. The primary goal of the project, which runs until June 2012, is to consistently utilise renewable energy sources for electrically powered vehicles. Within the framework of the fleet study, Volkswagen is using a total of 20 of the latest generation Golf Variant TwinDrive cars as research vehicles.
  • Gearing up for the global electric vehicle revolution
    May 3, 2019
    As transport, communications and energy networks become inextricably linked, policy makers are recognising the implications for our built environment – and the growing electric vehicle market will have a major impact on the world’s infrastructure, says Rolton Group’s Chris Evans
  • Home based real time travel information drives reduction in car use
    January 20, 2012
    David Crawford investigates a new approach to discouraging car use - the 'kitchen as travel centre'. ITS technology working together with UK planning legislation is driving an innovative 'kitchen as travel centre' approach to home design which is boosting public transport as an alternative to car use. The combination is already proving powerful enough to assuage environmentalist opposition to major urban developments. It is also being seen as a way of delivering wider social and community benefits inside an