In-depth profile of May Mobilityin Ann Arbor's tech ecosystem
May Mobility is the archetypal University of Michigan robotics spinout. Founded in 2017 by Edwin Olson, Alisyn Malek, and Steve Vozar, the company builds and deploys autonomous shuttle fleets in live public environments, which is a harder problem than the flashier robotaxi pitches that have dominated headlines. May runs real shuttles, carrying real passengers, on real roads, in cities from Grand Rapids to Sun City to Detroit.
The technical approach is distinctive. May uses a multi-policy decision-making system that simulates many possible futures in parallel, then picks the policy with the best expected outcome. This lets the vehicles handle dense urban edge cases that still trip up simpler planners. The company has raised more than 300 million dollars from Toyota, Bridgestone, BMW i Ventures, State Farm, and others, and it remains headquartered in Ann Arbor.
May's presence signals something important about the Ann Arbor AV ecosystem. The University of Michigan's robotics program, Ford Motor Company, Toyota, and Mcity's dedicated connected-vehicle proving ground form a cluster that no other American city outside the Bay Area can match. When a May engineer needs to test against a new intersection type, a partner city, or a novel sensor configuration, the supporting infrastructure is typically a short drive away.
The company's downtown Ann Arbor office keeps the team close to U-M's robotics research. For employees relocating, May's footprint is walkable to most of central Ann Arbor, which means you can live in Kerrytown, the Old West Side, or Burns Park and walk or bike to the office. The commute is trivial. The quality of life is top-tier. And you get to work on autonomy problems that ship to real riders, not just a demo video.