With over two decades of public service, Michele Mueller has been a pioneering leader in Michigan’s transition toward smarter, safer, and more sustainable transportation. As a manager for the State of Michigan’s Connected, Automated, and Electrification (CAVE) initiatives, she has played a pivotal role in planning, developing, and deploying advanced mobility technologies that position Michigan as a national and global hub for innovation.
Throughout her 30+ year career, Michele has led strategic partnerships between state agencies, private sector innovators, research institutions, and federal stakeholders. She has managed multimillion-dollar infrastructure projects focused on connected vehicle corridors, automated vehicle testing, and statewide EV infrastructure deployment — all aimed at enhancing safety, reducing emissions, and improving mobility access for Michigan residents.
How Michigan decides which transport pilots are worth scaling
What criteria are used to move a project from testbed to long-term deploymentWhy real roads expose problems test environments never will
The practical differences between controlled testing and live traffic, and why the “last 10%” of deployment is where most risk sits.How to build public trust
Why transparency, relevance, and showing people the tech can be more than technical detail.How government and industry educate each other in a shared ecosystem
Where OEMs, tech providers, and infrastructure agencies routinely misunderstand each other and how Michigan bridges that gap.
“Technology is great, but technology for the sake of technology isn’t.”
“If it doesn’t provide value back to the taxpayer, it doesn’t move forward…The users of our system don’t care who owns it, they just want it to work... We try very hard not to spend resources on things that won’t solve a real challenge.”
“People don’t trust government by default. We have to earn that trust…You can’t just tell people it’s safe. You have to show them.”
“Innovation works when industry and infrastructure educate each other.”
00:47 – About Michigan DOT’s connected, automated & electrification team.
End-to-end responsibility, across all modes and users.
02:17 – Deployments vs pilots: the two pillars of innovation
Why both matter and why sustainable implementations are a non-negotiable.
08:31 – When vehicle tech meets infrastructure reality
Signals, standards, and why OEMs can’t solve this alone.
10:17 – Building public trust in new transport technologies
Why transparency and relevance matter more than technical detail. Showing people what’s actually under the hood (no pun intended)
13:29 – Common misconceptions about AVs, CVs and EVs
What agencies constantly have to explain and what people are pretty good at understanding
24:24 – What Michelle would do differently starting out
A reflection on early-career learning, acronyms, and industry leadership.
Connect with Emily via email: emily@compassiot.com.au
Connect with Michele on Linkedin
Connect with Byte Size via LinkedIn
Connect with Compass IoT (the producer of this podcast) via our website
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