IF MATT JOHNSON-ROBERSON ever wondered why so many autonomous vehicle developers do their testing in Arizona, he got a fuller understanding last winter, riding around Michigan on a tandem tricycle. Sitting side by side and bundled up to ward off the cold, he and his University of Michigan colleague Ram Vasudevan pedaled to keep up with their robot, which was plying the streets of Ann Arbor on its own. One handled the steering while the other worked the laptop that oversaw the REV-1, the autonomous vehicle they created to mimic human bike messengers.
