Adient, an automotive seating supplier based in Detroit, today announced a partnership with the American Center for Mobility (ACM).
ACM is located on the 500-acre historic Willow Run site in Ypsilanti Township, where it has a 2.5-mile highway loop, intersections, roundabouts and a 700-foot curved tunnel for connected and automated vehicle testing.
“Adient’s partnership with the American Center for Mobility furthers our commitment to developing safety and mobility standards for autonomous vehicles,” says Bruce McDonald, chairman and CEO of Adient. “The center provides us with a safe environment in which to test our future mobility technologies.”
Through the partnership, Adient will continue its development of new innovations, technologies, and seating configurations for the future of mobility vehicles.
“We are thrilled to welcome Adient as our newest partner and to support the innovative work they are doing,” says John Maddox, president and CEO of ACM. “I admire their forward thinking as they design their seating technologies around the comfort and safety of passengers, which are critical aspects for acceptance of automated vehicles.”
ACM is one of 10 U.S. Department of Transportation designated Automated Vehicle Proving Grounds and is a nonprofit testing, education and product development facility for future mobility. ACM is a joint initiative with the State of Michigan founded in partnership with the Michigan Department of Transportation, the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, the University of Michigan, Business Leaders for Michigan and Ann Arbor SPARK. It is also part of PlanetM, a collaborative that represents Michigan’s mobility ecosystem.
In 2017, ACM announced it had partnered with Intertek on operations and maintenance. Visteon Corp., an automotive cockpit electronics supplier, became the center’s first Tier 1 automotive supplier to join as a founder-level sponsor in 2017. The Hyundai America Technical Center Inc., Ford Motor Co., and Toyota Motor North America and the Toyota Research Institute each contributed to the center in 2017. Angelo Iafrate Construction Co. oversaw the first phase of construction at Willow Run. AT&T became the center’s exclusive cellular network provider from 2017-2020. The center opened in December 2017.
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