Jul 21, 2015 11:54 AM EDT By Russell Westerholm, UniversityHerald Reporter

The University of Michigan (UM) unveiled "M City," a mini-metropolis on their north campus designed to create risk-free environment to test self-driving cars.

"We had the faculty here at the university design the fully evolved future," Peter Sweatman, director of UM's Mobility Transformation Center (MTC), told Bloomberg News. "After all, we're replacing humans with machines and those machines need to be able to operate in a full, rich environment."

M City is a collaborative effort with the state's department of transportation, the school noted in a press release. UM said it was important for their Ann Arbor campus to house M City given the state's history of automotive research and development.

"We've been a world leader in innovation, especially in terms of mobility," Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder said in the release. "We put the world on wheels. We transformed how the world moved. Michigan is uniquely positioned to continue to be a leader in mobility, and the University of Michigan's new M City will play a critical role in that future."

M City spans 32 acres and has simulates both urban and suburban settings, just without pedestrians on the sidewalks and crosswalks or human-driven vehicles sharing the road. There still are sidewalks, as well as working traffic lights, construction zones, and anything to simulate a real driving experience, just without the driver.

"There are many challenges ahead as automated vehicles are increasingly deployed on real roadways," Sweatman said in the release. "M City is a safe, controlled, and realistic environment where we are going to figure out how the incredible potential of connected and automated vehicles can be realized quickly, efficiently and safely."

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