WWII bomber site gears up for driverless demos in December

Contractors work on the construction site of the American Mobility Center (ACM) in Ypsilanti, Michigan, U.S., on Tuesday, Aug. 15, 2017. Representative Debbie Dingel, a Democrat from Michigan, and Representative Bob Latta, a Republican from Ohio, visited the ACM to meet with experts in the autonomous vehicles industry as the two work together to advance bipartisan self-driving vehicle legislation through the House floor. Photographer: Sean Proctor/Bloomberg

Self-driving cars will begin taking test laps this December on the site of a famous World War II airplane factory in Michigan where Rosie the Riveter helped produce a shiny B-24 Liberator bomber every hour more than seven decades ago. 

Driverless cars – some without steering wheels, accelerators or brake pedals – will race at speeds of up to 70 miles per hour around a 2.5-mile loop that includes a triple-decker overpass, a 700-foot tunnel and a decommissioned federal highway. The test track, known as the American Centre for Mobility, is under construction on the grounds of the former Willow Run factory that was a critical cog in Detroit’s famed Arsenal of Democracy during World War II.