In 2023, the Center for Transportation Studies joined the Center for Connected and Automated Transportation (CCAT), the USDOT’s Region 5 University Transportation Center (UTC), as one of three new partners. Led by the University of Michigan, CCAT is a consortium of nine institutions conducting research to address comprehensive transportation safety, congestion, connected vehicles, connected infrastructure, and autonomous vehicles.
CCAT was created in 2017 as part of the USDOT’s Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act. The consortium was renewed in 2023 under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA).
CCAT aims to significantly advance the evolution of the US next-generation transportation systems with emerging technologies on safety, mobility, cybersecurity, and equity. Located at the focal point of the US auto industry, CCAT will play a unique regional role in promoting connected and automated transportation research, education, workforce development, and technology transfer activities, which are critical to the future of the region’s economy. The CCAT team’s extensive and substantive collaborations with stakeholders such as the region’s state DOTs, local governments, and the CAV industry will ensure that its research translates to practical outcomes through prototypes, field tests, technology transfer, implementation, and policies.
The USDOT UTC Program advances the state-of-the-art in transportation research and technology and develops the next generation of transportation professionals. UTC awards and administers grants to consortia of colleges and universities across the United States.
In addition to the University of Minnesota, the University of Michigan's other partners are the University of Akron, Central State University, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the Northwestern University, Purdue University, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Washtenaw Community College.