Search Results for: planetm

PlanetM Awards New Grants to Advance Mobility Pilots in Michigan

PlanetM, the state of Michigan-backed business development organization, has announced a new batch of grants that aim to entice mobility startups and corporations to pilot their innovations in Michigan, or test and validate their technology at one of Michigan’s proving grounds. PlanetM has awarded a total of $440,000 in grants to five companies. The startups … Continue reading “PlanetM Awards New Grants to Advance Mobility Pilots in Michigan”

Roundup: Erie Hack, MedHealth Summit, PlanetM, DTX Detroit, WMU

Now that the holidays are over—heck, January is almost over—Michigan’s innovation hubs are hard at work. Here is a selection of recent tech news from around the state: —Do you wonder what the deal is with driverless cars? Do you have questions as a consumer about safety, technology, or cost? The University of Michigan will … Continue reading “Roundup: Erie Hack, MedHealth Summit, PlanetM, DTX Detroit, WMU”

Free Workshops, Tools, & Advice? Centrepolis Aids Hardware Startups

Although Michigan is home to 2,500 small manufacturers and is the center of the domestic auto industry, it didn’t have a hardware technology incubator until Lawrence Technological University launched one about a year ago. The Centrepolis Accelerator’s mission is to help grow the state’s advanced manufacturing and hardware ecosystem by providing funding, product- and business-development … Continue reading “Free Workshops, Tools, & Advice? Centrepolis Aids Hardware Startups”

Ford Initiative Will Crowdsource Mobility Solutions in Detroit

It’s been a year since Ford announced it will refurbish a massive abandoned train station in Detroit and transform it into the anchor of its mobility and autonomous vehicle operations, which will eventually house hundreds of employees. This week, the automaker announced a new program called City:One Michigan Central Station Challenge to solicit ideas for … Continue reading “Ford Initiative Will Crowdsource Mobility Solutions in Detroit”

Mark Your Calendars: Startup Week Detroit Kicks Off on June 17

Every year, Detroit’s entrepreneurial community comes together for a five-day event encompassing panel discussions, TED talk-style keynote speeches, bootcamps, tech demos, and networking happy hours, all of which are open to the public and free upon registration. Techstars Startup Week Detroit kicks off on June 17, but the registration process is already underway for those … Continue reading “Mark Your Calendars: Startup Week Detroit Kicks Off on June 17”

MEDC Leader Details Michigan’s Road to the Waymo AV Factory Deal

This week, Michigan’s economic development office notched a win when it announced that Waymo, Google’s mobility arm, had chosen the Great Lakes State as the location for a new manufacturing operation. According to a press release from the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC), Waymo will invest $13.6 million in a factory that will integrate Waymo’s … Continue reading “MEDC Leader Details Michigan’s Road to the Waymo AV Factory Deal”

Michigan Mobility Institute Aims to Expand AV Talent, Ecosystem

A new tech education effort is forming in Detroit—created by Fontinalis Partners co-founder Chris Thomas—that focuses on teaching adult students the skills they need to compete for the increasingly large number of open jobs in the mobility industry. Called the Detroit Mobility Lab, it has two goals: to build the mobility talent infrastructure necessary to … Continue reading “Michigan Mobility Institute Aims to Expand AV Talent, Ecosystem”

Auto Show Notes: Techstars Mobility Rebrands, Expands Mission

Detroit’s North American International Auto Show was the place for a plethora of mobility-related announcements this week, including some significant news from the Boulder, CO-based Techstars accelerator program. Techstars launched an incubator for mobility startups in the Motor City four years ago, and the program has flourished since. In recognition of that success as well … Continue reading “Auto Show Notes: Techstars Mobility Rebrands, Expands Mission”

City of Detroit Tests Real-World Mobility with Innovation Initiative

Michigan’s government and business leaders have worked diligently over the past few years to position the state that put the world on wheels to be major player in the development of self-driving cars. (According to a June 25 opinion piece in Forbes, Michigan has become “the Silicon Valley of mobility.”) The city of Detroit is … Continue reading “City of Detroit Tests Real-World Mobility with Innovation Initiative”

Derq Teaches Driverless Cars to Safely Navigate Busy Intersections

There are many technical challenges to overcome in the development of self-driving cars, but one of the toughest is predicting and preventing collisions with pedestrians and other objects that end up in the roadway. As urban cyclists know, there is a fair amount of intense eye contact that goes on between bikers and drivers as … Continue reading “Derq Teaches Driverless Cars to Safely Navigate Busy Intersections”

Michigan Mobility Challenge Designed to Address Transportation Gaps

Each year, at the end of May, Michigan’s government, industry, and nonprofit leaders get together on Mackinac Island for a few days to discuss the day’s most pressing political issues. It’s a popular place to announce new policies and programs. This year, Gov. Rick Snyder used the Mackinac gathering to unveil the Michigan Mobility Challenge, … Continue reading “Michigan Mobility Challenge Designed to Address Transportation Gaps”

After Conquering Detroit Auto Show, Carmera to Expand Mapping Service

At the North American International Auto Show, which just wrapped in Detroit, New York-based Carmera won best in show at the startup competition hosted by AutoMobili-D, and also received startup of the year honors in the autonomous driving category from the state’s PlanetM program. Not bad for a company that just exited stealth mode a … Continue reading “After Conquering Detroit Auto Show, Carmera to Expand Mapping Service”

Detroit Auto Show Puts Big Focus on Mobility Technologies, Startups

The North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) kicked off this week in Detroit, allowing industry affiliates and media to get an early look before the show opens to the public this weekend. For the second year in a row, NAIAS highlighted the mobility sector’s potential business models and offered glimpses of how the trillion-dollar market … Continue reading “Detroit Auto Show Puts Big Focus on Mobility Technologies, Startups”

Detroit Workspace Aims to Connect Mobility Startups, Auto Industry

Many tech companies are feverishly working to develop self-driving cars and other mobility-related innovations, but that’s only the first step. Once startups have a prototype or working concept, the next step is introducing it to the region’s automotive ecosystem—a complicated web of proprietary projects, collaborations, and legacy relationships that can seem impenetrable to outsiders. A … Continue reading “Detroit Workspace Aims to Connect Mobility Startups, Auto Industry”

After Staring Down Adversity, Detroit is Perfect Place for Amazon HQ2

Detroit. There’s no mid-sized American city as revered, as iconic, as talked about as Detroit. That’s because no other city has symbolized America quite like it, or played a bigger role in shaping what we are as a nation. And the intertwining of Detroit with the future of America will become even clearer when it … Continue reading “After Staring Down Adversity, Detroit is Perfect Place for Amazon HQ2”