The path to safe, widespread autonomous vehicles is going digital.
MITRE - a government-sponsored nonprofit research organization - today announced its partnership with Mcity at the University of Michigan to develop a virtual and physical autonomous vehicle (AV) validation platform for industry deployment.
As part of this collaboration, announced during the NVIDIA AI Summit in Washington, D.C., MITRE will use Mcity's simulation tools and a digital twin of its Mcity Test Facility, a real-world AV test environment in its Digital Proving Ground (DPG). The joint platform will deliver physically based sensor simulation enabled by NVIDIA Omniverse Cloud Sensor RTX APIs.
By combining these simulation capabilities with the MITRE DPG reporting framework, developers will be able to perform exhaustive testing in a simulated world to safely validate AVs before real-world deployment.
The current regulatory environment for AVs is highly fragmented, posing significant challenges for widespread deployment. Today, companies navigate regulations at various levels - city, state and the federal government - without a clear path to large-scale deployment. MITRE and Mcity aim to address this ambiguity with comprehensive validation resources open to the entire industry.
Mcity currently operates a 32-acre mock city for automakers and researchers to test their technology. Mcity is also building a digital framework around its physical proving ground to provide developers with AV data and simulation tools.
Raising Safety Standards One of the largest gaps in the regulatory framework is the absence of universally accepted safety standards that the industry and regulators can rely on.
The lack of common standards leaves regulators with limited tools to verify AV performance and safety in a repeatable manner, while companies struggle to demonstrate the maturity of their AV technology. The ability to do so is crucial in the wake of public road incidents, where AV developers need to demonstrate the reliability of their software in a way that is acceptable to both industry and regulators.
Efforts like the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's New Car Assessment Program (NCAP) have been instrumental in setting benchmarks for vehicle safety in traditional automotive development. However, NCAP is insufficient for AV evaluation, where measures of safety go beyond crash tests to the complexity of real-time decision-making in dynamic environments.
Additionally, traditional road testing presents inherent limitations, as it exposes vehicles to real-world conditions but lacks the scalability needed to prove safety across a wide variety of edge cases. It's particularly difficult to test rare and dangerous scenarios on public roads without significant risk.
By providing both physical and digital resources to validate AVs, MITRE and Mcity will be able to offer a safe, universally accessible solution that addresses the complexity of verifying autonomy.
Physically Based Sensor Simulation A core piece of this collaboration is sensor simulation, which models the physics and behavior of cameras, lidars, radars and ultrasonic sensors on a physical vehicle, as well as how these sensors interact with their surroundings.
Sensor simulation enables developers to train against and test rare and dangerous scenarios - such as extreme weather conditions, sudden pedestrian crossings or unpredictable driver behavior - safely in virtual settings.
In collaboration with regulators, AV companies can use sensor simulation to recreate a real-world event, analyze their system's response and evaluate how their vehicle performed - accelerating the validation process.
Moreover, simulation tests are repeatable, meaning developers can track improvements or regressions in the AV stack over time. This means AV companies can provide quantitative evidence to regulators to show that their system is evolving and addressing safety concerns.
Bridging Industry and Regulators MITRE and its ecosystem are actively developing the Digital Proving Ground platform to facilitate industry-wide standards and regulations.
The platform will be an open and accessible national resource for accelerating safe AV development and deployment, providing a trusted simulation test environment.
Mcity will contribute simulation infrastructure, a digital twin and the ability to seamlessly connect virtual and physical worlds with NVIDIA Omniverse, an open platform enabling system developers to build physical AI and robotic system simulation applications. By integrating this virtual proving ground into DPG, the collaboration will also accelerate the development and use of advanced digital engineering and simulation for AV safety assurance.
Mcity's simulation tools will connect to Omniverse Cloud Sensor RTX APIs and render a Universal Scene Description (USD) model of Mcity's physical proving ground. DPG will be able to access this environment, simulate the behavior of vehicles and pedestrians in a realistic test environment and use the DPG reporting framework to explain how the AV performed.
This testing will then be replicated on the physical Mcity proving ground to create a comprehensive feedback loop.
The Road Ahead As developers, automakers and regulators continue to collaborate, the industry is moving closer to a future where AVs can operate safely and at scale. The establishment of a repeatable testbed for validating safety - across real and simulated environments - will be critical to gaining public trust and regulatory approval, bringing the promise of AVs closer to reality.
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
07/10/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced the latest Long-Term Supported (LTS) release of Dalet Flex. Build...
08/09/2026
Comcast Technology Solutions (CTS) has announced a multi-year agreement with A E...
08/09/2026
Spectra Logic today announced the availability of Media Insight, a new capabilit...
08/09/2026
Rogers Communications and Quebecor have announced a 12-year sublicensing agreement for French-language national NHL games beginning with the 2026-27 season. TVA...
08/09/2026
Skyline Communications and Bridge Technologies will demonstrate two integrations...
08/09/2026
Boland Communications will make the European debut of its 4K55HDR7SNB 55-inch super-narrow-bezel monitor at IBC2026 (Stand 12.C57, RAI Amsterdam, September 11-1...
08/09/2026
Ateme and Comcast Technology Solutions (CTS) have announced a collaboration comb...
08/09/2026
Haivision has joined the IBC Accelerator Media Innovation Programme as part of t...
08/09/2026
Blackmagic Design has announced price reductions on its PYXIS 6K and Cinema Camera 6K models, effective immediately through Blackmagic Design resellers worldwid...
08/09/2026
AI-Media will demonstrate its LEXI Suite at IBC2026 (Booth 5.C34, September 11-1...
08/09/2026
Bitmovin and Ad Insertion Platform (AIP) have announced the first live deploymen...
08/09/2026
Grass Valley will demonstrate story-centric media workflows at IBC2026 (Booth 9.A01, RAI Amsterdam, September 11-14), connecting newsroom production, content ma...
08/09/2026
M2A Media and Ateme have announced a partnership integrating Ateme's video processing solutions into M2A Media's MediaToAnywhere platform for live sport...
08/09/2026
Ikegami will exhibit at IBC2026 (Stand 12.A31, RAI Amsterdam, September 11-14), including a Day 1 introduction of new cameras in the UNICAM XE series. Additiona...
08/09/2026
Broadcast industry analysts will be gathering plenty of insights at the 2026 IBC Show this weekend in Amsterdam, but Caretta Research has offered up some though...
08/09/2026
SENSHI and DAZN have announced a global broadcast partnership that will bring SENSHI's live events free to viewers in more than 200 markets. The partnership...
08/09/2026
New architecture built with Evertz will bring 4K HDR to Monday Night Football, N...
08/09/2026
Built for rap producers, by rap producers
Sauceware Audio, the independent plug-in company founded by Grammy-nominated producer Jacob (Travis Scott, 21 Sava...
08/09/2026
Classic Sound Techniques design revived
Warm Audio's latest release delivers a meticulous recreation of the preamp circuitry employed by the Sound Techn...
08/09/2026
Latest soft synth inspired by the Memorymoog
XILS Lab have just launched a software instrument that draws its inspiration from Moog's iconic Memorymoog,...
08/09/2026
The Airport Chaplain takes off as SBS's biggest launch of 2026
8 September, 2026
Media releases
1.67 million viewers on National Total TV to date
Best...
08/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/09/2026
Mo-Sys, the world-leading developer of virtual production, camera robotics and image tracking technology, has completed a business restructuring, which has incl...
08/09/2026
New York, September 8, 2026 The TSAmediaHUB audiovisual contribution and distribution infrastructure developed by Telef nica's Audiovisual Services area re...
08/09/2026
Expanded Riyadh operation brings Asharq and Thmanyah services together on a resilient on-premises Pebble platform.
Pebble, the leading automation, content mana...
08/09/2026
Techex, a pioneering leader in live video workflows, will showcase its broadest software feature set to date at IBC 2026 (Stand 2.B45), extending its lead in so...
08/09/2026
Visitors to Grass Valley's booth at IBC2026 will be introduced to new Framelight X capabilities that connect content acquisition, management, editing and pu...
08/09/2026
BCNEXXT will showcase the latest evolution of Vipe at IBC2026 (Stand 2.B09), introducing a series of innovations designed to deliver higher-quality audience exp...
08/09/2026
Bitmovin, a provider of video streaming solutions, has partnered with Ad Insertion Platform (AIP), a leading innovator in advanced ad insertion technologies, to...
08/09/2026
Brainstorm, a leading manufacturer of real-time graphics and augmented and virtual production, is announcing a major package of enhancements to its Suite 7 soft...
08/09/2026
Big Blue Marble is supporting TDF, French infrastructure and network operator, broadcasting Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) and radio services, as a techno...
08/09/2026
Agents work inside a single production environment, from incoming wire copy to a live studio show...
08/09/2026
Building on their strategic partnership, Ceeblue and Layercake make the unthinkable possible: scalable sub-second streaming over standard DRM, SSAI, and CDN wor...
08/09/2026
Brainstorm, a leading manufacturer of real-time graphics, augmented and virtual production, is completing the environment for fast-paced broadcast production wi...
08/09/2026
A SaaS portfolio built to work together, helping operators grow audiences, monetise smarter and run leaner, on their own terms
At IBC 2026 (stand 1.B49) Synam...
08/09/2026
Accedo, global provider of video streaming software and services, has been selected by PlayOn Sports, a national leader in high school sports technology, to exp...
08/09/2026
LiveU, the leader in live IP-video solutions, is enabling The Associated Press to take global newsgathering to the next stage with intelligent connectivity and ...
08/09/2026
Mediagenix, a global leader in smart content solutions to profitably connect the right content to the right audience, today announced the latest evolution of it...
08/09/2026
Compact, power-efficient X Platform performance brings broadcast-grade reliability and ultra-low latency to space-constrained remote production (REMI) workflows...
08/09/2026
Zixi, the leader in live video delivery and workflow orchestration, and Kiloview, a leading provider of professional IP video encoding and decoding solutions, t...
08/09/2026
Collaboration gives content owners scalable CDN capacity and broadcasters enhanced flexibility, including for C-band transition planning
Quortex today announce...
08/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/09/2026
Telos Alliance and Pluxbox Announce Dynamic Media Facility Integration Partnersh...
08/09/2026
J nger Audio Showcases Industry-First S-ADM Cloud Workflow at IBC 2026
Search
Dolby, MainConcept, Techex and J nger Audio will showcase the industry's ...
08/09/2026
Tuesday 8 September 2026
Sky Go gets a major upgrade for Sky Glass and Sky Stream customers
Today, Sky launches a new version of the Sky Go app for Sky Glass ...
08/09/2026
Documentary thriller simulating a Russian attack on UK soil will culminate in a live final episode reuniting the playersTuesday 8 September 2026
Trailer releas...
08/09/2026
Tuesday 8 September 2026
Jamie Demetriou and Amelia Dimoldenberg to host next t...
08/09/2026
Wuppertal September 8, 2026
Riedel Introduces New OnAir Headset PlatformRiedel Communications today announced the launch of its new OnAir headset platform, a...
The path to safe, widespread autonomous vehicles is going digital.
