Toyota is turning Ann Arbor into global test site for connected cars

Toyota is going all in on Ann Arbor, Mich., as a global test site for connected cars to gather data for research into autonomous driving and safety applications. In partnership with the University of Michigan's Transportation Research Institute, Toyota's goal is to equip 5,000 cars with information-gathering boxes that communicate wirelessly with similar vehicles and infrastructure such as traffic signals, the company said in a statement today. The effort does not include Google-style autonomous cars sometimes seen on the streets of California and the Southwest. Rather, regular drivers will be recruited to have a small box installed in the rear of their vehicles along with two small antennas on the trunk or the roof. The drivers will make their normal rounds.