The University of Michigan's $10 million, 32-acre "outdoor lab," Mcity, is designed as a place where automakers and suppliers test semi-automated, autonomous , and connected-car systems, with railroad crossings, roundabouts, paved and unpaved roads, potentially potholes, snow and ice in the winter and, presumably, no distracted drivers to rear-end the autonomous cars. It was dedicated Monday, with official testing to begin immediately, though "major partners" such as Ford Motor Company have been testing here since late last year.