TechLab at Mcity is a Company-in-Residence program (company-sponsored technical projects housed at Mcity and the Ann Arbor campus) for early-stage advanced mobility companies in the connected and autonomous vehicle (CAV) industry through the work of elite and technically-skilled students.
Aditya Om
Computer Science | Class of 2022
Haochen Yu
Computer Science and Data Science | Class of 2023
Daphne Tsai
Computer Science | Class of 2023
Leo Lee
Computer Engineering | Class of 2022
Dr. Ali Peker - Team Mentor
CEO | Adastec
Dr. Kerem Par - Team Mentor
CTO | Adastec
Dr. Cemre Kavvasoğlu - Team Mentor
Technical Product Manager | Adastec
Sensor Fusion Architecture
The goal of the project is to create safer and more comfortable trips for passengers, and making trips more efficient for the electric automated buses with the fusion of V2X communication and deep learning-based methods for the recognition of traffic lights.
Julienne Shah
Computer Science | Class of 2023
Nithin Donepudi
Robotics | Class of 2022
Nicola Croce - Team Mentor
Technical Program Manager | Deepen AI
Methods to Extract Driving Scenarios
The goal of this project will be to create a smart intersection utilizing multiple lidar sensors. The software for the LiDAR sensors will be proprietary software provided by the company.
Devika Deshpande
Electrical Engineering | Class of 2023
Yujia Li
Mechanical Engineering | Class of 2023
Hao-Tsung Lee
Computer Engineering | Class of 2022
Zheng-Hang (Goro) Yeh
Robotics | Class of 2023
William Persampieri - Team Mentor
Field Application Engineer Team Lead | Baraja
LiDAR Range Tests
This project is to validate the Baraja LiDAR range tests at real-life distances. The end goal would be to have in-field results that are verified against Baraja Manufacturing test data.
Rahul Srinivasan
Robotics | Class of 2023
Dharmateja Kadem - Team Mentor
Sr. Software Engineer | Gatik AI
Brian McLean - Team Mentor
Head of Hardware | Gatik AI
Apeksha Kumavat - Team Mentor
Co-Founder & Chief Engineer | Gatik AI
3D Object Detection
The project aims to make significant advances in long-range 3D object detection and tracking for autonomous vehicles, i.e. beyond 120 meters and out to 200+ m in front of the vehicle.
Srikar Varaganti
Robotics | Class of 2023
Sudharsan Babu Srikanthan
Computer Vision | Class of 2023
Martin Nathenson - Team Mentor
P3 Mobility
Jeremy Ward - Team Mentor
Director of Operations | P3 Mobility
BSMs
The goal of this project will be to fuse the basic safety messages (BSMs) from vehicles with sensor data from smart intersections, translating this information into actionable safety data in realtime for both vehicle operators and insurance providers that assess driving risk based on vehicle and environment dynamics.
Wei Lee
Mechanical Engineering | Class of 2023
Nigam Nimmagadda
Automotive Engineering | Class of 2022
Jacopo Alaimo - Team Mentor
Sales and Business Development Management | XenomatiX
Rodrigo Royo - Team Mentor
Application Engineer | XenomatiX
Solid State LiDAR Software
The goal of this project will be to integrate a LiDAR system in an existing serial production vehicle demonstrating modularity and integrability of the latest generation of LiDAR and testing and validating the results running object detection and classification algorithms.
FOR STUDENTS
ENTR 390. 013 | Tues. 4-6PM, 1690 Beyster
TechLab students experience entrepreneurship while working in the emerging industry of connected and autonomous vehicle industry (CAV). We are looking for the most driven, passionate and talented students to join this program.
HIGHLIGHTS
- Tackle industry challenges through CAV technical projects as part of the 1-year fellowship program (Winter-Fall; 3 credits/semester)
- Gain experience developing new technologies at an early-stage startup
- Receive mentorship from industry experts, fellow students, and U-M faculty across multiple disciplines
- Attend lectures from faculty and industry partners on topics such as business models and project management
- Obtain leadership and collaboration skills while completing a sponsored company project with other driven and passionate classmates
FOR COMPANIES
COHORT INFORMATION
Partnering companies lead entrepreneurial innovation while leveraging elite and technically-skilled U-M student teams who work to tackle company-sponsored technical projects. This Company-in-Residence program is for early-stage advanced mobility companies in the connected and autonomous vehicle (CAV) industry.
HIGHLIGHTS
- Work on your proposed year-long project with a small team of top-tiered talented student interns
- Receive access to the Mcity Test Facility–the nation’s leading mobility research and urban test facility on U-M’s North Campus
- Gain connections with U-M faculty and industry experts
- Leverage the close proximity to Detroit, the birthplace of mobility
STUDENT FAQs
We have several suggested, but not required, skills and courses to successfully complete company sponsored projects. They are: Robotics, Mechatronics (Design, CAD, and machine shop skills), ability to code in C, Python, or C++, machine vision, machine learning, AI focus, mobile software development. The suggested courses are: ME 250, ME 350, and ME 450, EECS 442, 453, 445, 461, 463, other 400+, and courses in computer vision, robotics, and sensor fusion.
TechLab is open to all undergraduate students.
Due to the highly competitive nature of the program, if you are not accepted, we recommend reapplying the following year. Depending on the technical experience that a student has, an incoming freshman could be selected to participate.
Yes, TechLab at Mcity is open to undergraduate to graduate students. Depending on the technical experience that a student has, first-year students to graduate students could be selected.
In order to participate, you must be able to commit to two semesters – Winter & Fall.
Students are required to attend a lecture class every week. Class serves two purposes (1) Receive lectures from faculty on topics like business model and project management (2) Present weekly updates and ask for guidance relating to project roadblocks
To fit with U-M guidelines of 2-3 hours of work per credit hour, this course will require 8-10 hours outside of class.
Only selected students will be contacted via email.
Student teams have an hour-long weekly Skype or Google Hangout call with the company they are matched with. At different points during the year company leads may travel to Ann Arbor to work with students.
3 general elective credits per semester. You must be eligible to receive all 3 credits.
*Note: EECS students can use this course as a flexible technical credit. We are working to get this approved among other CoE departments.
COMPANY FAQs
We are looking for early-stage technology companies in the autonomous and connected vehicle industry. The typical TechLab company is one that has already raised > $5M dollars and has more than 15 employees. This guarantees that we are working with globally leading companies that are well on their way and have the management capability to oversee and contribute to projects in a substantial way.
All companies are required to submit a proposal. If you are interested in being considered for this incubator program, please email techlab-mcity@umich.edu.
Existing intellectual property of technology startups, and any IP developed using the U-M facilities, will be strictly protected and remain with your company. All students are required to sign a NDA.
Alumni Companies
Civil Maps
San Francisco, CA
2016/2017 Cohort
Tome
Detroit, MI
2017/2018 Cohort
NAVYA
Villeurbanne, France
2017 Cohort
Zendrive
San Francisco, CA
2016/2017/2018 Cohort
PolySync
Portland, OR and Ann Arbor, MI
2016/2017/2018 Cohort
CARMERA
New York City, NY
2017/2018/2019 Cohort
Trillium Secure, Inc.
Sunnyvale, CA
2018/2019 Cohort
RightHook, Inc.
San Jose, CA
2017/2018/2019 Cohort
Innoviz Technologies
Israel, Santa Clara, CA, and Munich
2019/2020 Cohort
May Mobility
Ann Arbor, MI
2019/2020 Cohort
Humanising Autonomy
London and Great Britain
2019/2020 Cohort
Refraction AI
Ann Arbor, MI
2019/2020 Cohort
Point One Navigation
San Francisco, CA
2020/2021 Cohort
Seoul Robotics
Ann Arbor, MI and Seoul, KR
2020/2021 Cohort
DeepMap now Nvidia (acquired)
Palo Alto, CA
2021 Cohort
Foresight Automotive
Israel
2021 Cohort
Nick Moroz
Program Director
Greg McGuire
Lab Director - Mcity
TechLab is managed by U-M Center for Entrepreneurship, in partnership with Mcity.
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