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MDOT outlines connected‑vehicle, work‑zone and wireless‑charging pilots; partners with UPS, HAS Alert and CABNU
Summary
Michelle Mueller, manager of MDOT’s Connected, Automated and Electrification team, told commissioners about federal and state pilots including Detroit intersection instrumentation, work‑zone communications tests, a Fourteenth Street wireless charging installation and a HAS Alert pilot to broadcast state vehicle presence.
Michelle Mueller, manager of MDOT’s Connected, Automated and Electrification team, briefed commissioners on a portfolio of pilots and grants aimed at safety, commercial‑vehicle routing and in‑road charging during the Jan. 30 meeting.
Mueller told the commission, “a lot of our focus is, on safety and bringing safety forward to, our infrastructure,” and described multiple active projects that pair field instrumentation with vehicle systems and third‑party apps.
Key projects Mueller described:
- Cross‑border mobility and Blue Water Bridge smart grant: A cross‑border study held more than 100 U.S. and Canadian stakeholders to identify use cases and align data sharing for freight and passenger movements; the group secured a federal smart grant to test pre‑crossing check‑ins, shipment tracking and document streamlining on the Blue Water Bridge.
- Detroit ATCMTD deployment: A federally funded ATCMTD (Advanced Transportation and Congestion Management Technologies Deployment) project will instrument about 52 intersections on a corridor from downtown Detroit north toward I‑696, including the City of Detroit‑owned section between Woodward and Adams. Mueller said the deployment will support pedestrian alerts, transit signal priority and preemption, and snowplow corridor operations.
- Work‑zone safety and commercial vehicles: MDOT reported tests of “smart” arrow boards and dynamic speed signage intended to feed real‑time information to vehicles and to third‑party apps (Waze and similar services). Mueller said MDOT is studying ways to integrate work‑zone data with commercial vehicle platforms to give truck drivers advance information about lane closures and required merge behavior; she noted MDOT has received two Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration grants for work‑zone studies covering both static and moving work zones.
- Orange pavement‑marking pilot (I‑96 test): MDOT ran a public pilot with a short orange pavement marking section and gathered public feedback and sensor data. Mueller said the public reported increased daytime awareness but that evening visibility and automated vehicle sensor detection produced mixed results.
- Wireless charging road and transit plans: Mueller reviewed Michigan’s in‑road wireless charging installation on Fourteenth Street (a quarter‑mile pilot with in‑motion coils under the pavement and a Ford E‑Transit van used for testing). MDOT plans a second installation tied to Michigan Avenue reconstruction for transit electrification and last‑mile delivery pilots; UPS is a named testing partner for the Fourteenth Street deployments and has funded a facility installation.
- I‑94 CABNU pilot: MDOT described a three‑mile, operational westbound I‑94 test segment that is collecting data on lane separators, median hardware and the potential for a longer connected/managed lane. Mueller said the pilot aims to measure safety and operational benefits and to evaluate longer‑term agreements and user fees.
- HAS Alert partnership (instrumenting state vehicles): MDOT is piloting a system with HAS Alert to broadcast vehicle presence for roadside workers and maintenance vehicles. Mueller said the pilot will instrument MDOT vehicles (including freeway courtesy patrols), and could transmit signals directly to vehicles equipped with receivers or via third‑party apps to warn approaching drivers. The state police also have similar systems on some vehicles and will partner for broader evaluation.
Why it matters: Mueller and other MDOT presenters emphasized that many projects are driven by safety goals—reducing pedestrian crashes, preventing run‑off‑road incidents, and protecting work‑zone personnel—and by operational goals such as keeping snowplows moving and giving commercial drivers better routing data.
What’s next: MDOT said pilots will continue and that data will be used to evaluate potential statewide deployments, standards for interoperability (for wireless charging and in‑vehicle messages), and opportunities for federal funding.
