AT&T and the American Center for Mobility Fuel the Future of Automated Driving

American Center for Mobility Names AT&T its Exclusive Cellular Network Provider   

AT&T¹ is teaming with the American Center for Mobility to speed the development of self-driving vehicles. Working with the Center gives us the space to explore, create and safely test driverless technologies. We’ll also serve as the Center’s exclusive cellular network provider through 2020. 

The American Center for Mobility will transform the entire transportation industry, acting as a test bed for Vehicle-to-Anything (V2X) and connected and automated vehicle (CAV) solutions. We’ll try out and validate the interoperability of connected car and smart city solutions, helping to ensure they can “talk” to each other as well as their surroundings. And we’ll do it alongside other industry leaders, government and academia.  

“We want to create a safe, scalable and cost-effective driverless future. To get there, we have to do it together,” said Chris Penrose, President, Internet of Things Solutions, AT&T. “The American Center for Mobility will provide an environment that will further cross-industry collaboration. Together, we’ll pave the way for innovations that change how we think about driving.”

A study issued by the World Economic Forum projects 10% of vehicles in the U.S. will be driverless by 2026.² AT&T, the American Center for Mobility and others in the industry will work to speed this to reality.

As the exclusive cellular network provider, we’ll provide the Center with the network resources and Internet of Things (IoT) infrastructure needed to advance driverless technologies.

“For a car to be fully connected and automated, it needs to be able to ‘talk’ to everyone and everything around it in a highly secure manner,” said John Maddox, President & CEO, American Center for Mobility. “AT&T is bringing its cellular network strength and industry leadership into a comprehensive CAV test facility, and we’re thrilled to have them as our first industry collaborator.”

Based at the historic Willow Run site in Ypsilanti Township, Mich., the 335-plus acre facility will equip us and others with the ability to evaluate and test the interoperability of new technologies and services that will support CAVs. It offers access to test environments that replicate the real world, including a 2.5-mile highway loop. It also provides an unmatched range of driving environments and infrastructure like intersections, overpasses, a 700-foot curved tunnel and roundabouts. And its location supports experimentation in varying weather conditions.

Opportunities include:

• Enhancing network security and connecting roadways, railroad crossings and more to better enable vehicles to “talk with” their surroundings
• Connecting self-driving technologies like lane keep assist, intersection assist, automatic braking and automatic windshield wipers to the network to make them smarter 
• Trialing new LTE and network technologies within the CAV ecosystem

Keeping our roads safe is a priority, and it aligns with the American Center for Mobility’s primary mission. AT&T intends to play an active role with them in helping to define and develop industry standards for CAVs as well as future mobile technologies.

This includes building a framework so all connected and automated vehicles can “talk” to one another regardless of their city, state or network. 

For more information on how AT&T is transforming transportation, check out att.com/IoT. To learn more about the American Center for Mobility, please visit acmwillowrun.org.

¹AT&T products and services are provided or offered by subsidiaries and affiliates of AT&T Inc. under the AT&T brand and not by AT&T Inc.

²World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on the Future of Software & Society, Deep Shift Technology Tipping Points and Societal Impact, Sept. 2015