MAG News

One day, automated vehicles that drive us instead of us driving them will be a reality. Many applications of automated technology, such as self-driving cars, are already on the road, but other commercially viable technologies are still under development. A new partnership between MAG and Institute of Automated Mobility (IAM) could help make our roads safer and improve Arizonans’ lives.

IAM, which is overseen by the Arizona Commerce Authority (ACA), provides research, development and testing of automated vehicle technology. It was established by Arizona Governor Doug Ducey in 2018 and brings together global companies, Arizona universities, and partners from the public and private sector. IAM and its partners work to advance innovation and contribute to economic competitiveness in Arizona. While the Maricopa Association of Governments (MAG) has been participating in IAM work as a partner, it has now become IAM’s newest official member.

“Formalizing this cooperation will create new synergies across multiple government sectors and with academic and private partners,” said MAG Executive Director Eric Anderson, who notes that MAG works to deploy and evaluate scalable, safe and technologically developed products through pilot projects and other efforts.

“We can leverage the IAM research to propagate pilots more quickly and make the path from university research to practice more streamlined. As a conduit to local governments, we can bring a better process of technology development and deployment through intergovernmental cooperation. This means we can get promising ideas into the real-world pipeline throughout our region more efficiently,” he says.

Arizona has been labeled “The place where automated vehicles go to learn” by the New York Times, with companies having operated automated vehicle (AV) testing in the state, including TuSimple, Mobileye, Nuro, Imagery, Waymo, Uber, Lunewave, Udelv, Cruise and Local Motors. 

“The partnership between MAG and IAM furthers Arizona’s leading presence advancing automated mobility,” said ACA President and CEO Sandra Watson. “Through close collaboration, we can amplify automated vehicle research and product deployment through each of our networks to impact more Arizonans and enhance driver and road safety.”

The IAM fosters automated mobility solutions that contribute to the development of relevant policies, guidelines and recommendations. Throughout development and deployment, the projects aim to improve the infrastructure of changing transportation technologies.

MAG will be focusing on areas that inform regional planning efforts, including evaluations of connected and automated vehicle technologies, infrastructure requirements, data collection and management, and smart infrastructure deployment.

View the IAM Member Digital Toolkit.