Cox Automotive Mobility plans to be part of a safety effort started by Arizona’s governor three years ago.

According to a news release distributed on Tuesday, the division of Cox Automotive committed to advancing the world’s fleets to serve the next generation will be joining the Institute of Automated Mobility (IAM), a public-private consortium established by Gov. Doug Ducey in 2018 to shape the future of transportation safety, science and policy.

Officials explained the collaboration will leverage emerging technologies to advance mobility solutions with an emphasis on safety and efficiency. Key focus areas will include systems integration, data capture and sharing and smart infrastructure deployment.

“The future of mobility is being pioneered right here in Arizona, and the Institute of Automated Mobility is leading the way,” Ducey said in the news release. “Critical to IAM’s mission are partnerships from technology leaders like Cox Automotive Mobility.

“We are grateful to have their leadership and expertise as part of IAM to help advance mobility solutions that will make our roads safer and improve Arizonans’ lives,” the governor added.

Arizona has been labeled, “The place where automated vehicles go to learn” by the New York Times, with companies having operated automated vehicle (AV) testing in the state, including:

— TuSimple
— Mobileye
— Nuro
— Imagery
— Waymo
— Uber
— Lunewave
— Udelv
— Cruise
— Local Motors

Cox Automotive Mobility sees the partnership as driving additional economic development opportunities in the advanced mobility industry.

“As a fundamental enabler of the emerging global transportation ecosystem, Cox Automotive Mobility is focused on helping deliver transportation technology that keeps vehicles moving safely, efficiently and sustainably,” said Jim Heffner, associate vice president of product at Cox Automotive Mobility.

“We look forward to collaborating with the Institute of Automated Mobility and its vast network of innovative transportation thought leaders to further facilitate the expansion of driverless technology,” Heffner went on to say in the news release.

In addition, as electric vehicles (EV) increasingly integrate with AV technology, officials mentioned partnership has the potential to bolster Arizona’s rapidly expanding EV industry.

“Our work with Cox Automotive and IAM will bring together those revolutionizing the automated vehicle space,” said Sandra Watson, president and chief executive officer of the Arizona Commerce Authority.

“We look forward to seeing how these initiatives will positively impact driver and road safety and contribute to the state’s thriving innovation ecosystem focused on the future,” Watson added.

Since its inception in 2018, the IAM has worked to address obstacles to AV commercialization. For example, IAM’s safety metrics project is pioneering a new framework for AV safety leveraging existing infrastructure, data capture techniques and experts in the fields of computer vision, machine learning, artificial intelligence, edge computing and traffic engineering.

IAM members include industry leaders, government, academia and transportation communities.