Where Rosie Once Riveted, Cars Will Now Drive Themselves
Contractors work at the construction site of the American Center for Mobility in Ypsilanti, Michigan, on Aug. 15, 2017.
Photographer: Sean Proctor/BloombergSelf-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 Center 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.