Ford Motor Company, Bedrock and Bosch, along with Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist II, recently announced a demonstration project with connected Ford Escape test vehicles that can drive and park themselves inside Bedrock’s Assembly Garage in Detroit using Bosch smart infrastructure. This is the first U.S. infrastructure-based solution for automated valet parking where the vehicle will park itself inside a parking garage.

The demonstration research project will take place in Corktown within Ford’s mobility innovation district and will be on display on the first floor of Assembly Garage. The project will explore new limits of vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communication via sensors that can recognize and localize the vehicle to guide its parking maneuver, including avoiding pedestrians and other hazards. This new automated valet parking technology will allow for 20 percent greater utilization of the same space, and can be retrofitted to parking sites like Assembly Garage or planned into the infrastructure of new garages.

Mobility Spotlight: NAVYA Launches Self-Driving Shuttle Service for Underserved in Detroit

In a Detroit first, a self-driving, accessible, paratransit shuttle is being deployed to transport senior citizens and the underserved to and from appointments and other needs at the Detroit Medical Center Heart Hospital. The partnership between Navya, NextEnergy, Bestmile, Flagstar Bank, IXR Mobility, and AARP – as well as DTE Energy and the Michigan Office of Future Mobility and Electrification – aims to enhance accessibility for residents of Brush Park Manor Senior Housing and Brewster Homes.

This project grew from a 2019 PlanetM Mobility Grant awarded to Navya to deploy an industry-leading, automated, accessible, paratransit shuttle within the city of Detroit to break down mobility, accessibility and transportation barriers many experience. Kicked off earlier this month, a Navya Autonom® Shuttle commenced operating along a pre-programmed 1.31-mile route, with an on-board safety operator overseeing the vehicle. While the shuttle strives to perform to its fullest capability of autonomy, the on-board attendant serves a multitude of safety purposes during this operation that make safety first priority.

May Mobility’s AVGR Relaunches with Updated Safety Measures

May Mobility and the City of Grand Rapids have announced the relaunch of their autonomous vehicle shuttle service, effective August 31. Originally launched in July 2019 through a collaborative public-private partnership, the complementary shuttle service had been operating under the Grand Rapids Autonomous Vehicle Initiative (AVGR) until March 2020 when the service was temporarily shut down due the global pandemic.

In the past months, the May Mobility and AVGR teams have worked to modify the interior of the shuttles and implement stringent cleaning procedures to ensure a safe rider experience. The following safety and cleaning measures have been implemented:

• Partitions splitting the cabin into two sections
• grēnlite™, a UV-C light treatment system from PlanetM mobility grant recipient and Holland, Mich. based GHSP, installed in each shuttle and will be used to disinfect the interiors in between each rider or grouping of riders
• Halosil International‘s™ Halo Disinfection System® will be used daily to achieve total surface disinfection of the entire shuttle interior
• MERV 13 filters have been added to the dual AC system each zone that can easily be replaced on a regular basis to further ensure clean air quality in the cabin

Learn more about AVGR, including how this collaborative project has been making accessible, inclusive transportation options a reality to the residents of Grand Rapids in the full press release here.

Thanks for Joining Us Virtually at TU-Automotive Detroit 2020

We’re thrilled you were able to join some of the brightest mobility minds from the public and private sectors – including Yandex, GM Ventures and Ann Arbor SPARK – at this year’s virtual TU-Automotive Detroit sponsored by PlanetM. For those that couldn’t join, we’ve got you covered with a playback link below.

The engaging discussion touched on the need for private and public entities to collaborate to create a long-term profitable and sustainable mobility business model and how it must evolve to address last mile transportation and MaaS’ as a replacement to vehicle ownership.

If you’re interested in tuning back in or sharing with peers, feel free to pass along this playback link here.

PlanetM Virtual Mobility Meetup with Reuben Sarker, President and CEO, American Center for Mobility

Rueben Sarkar, President and CEO, American Center for Mobility (ACM), joined the group to discuss everything mobility-related since the last meetup and what may lay ahead for the industry. If you missed the meetup, catch up on the full conversation here.

Reminder: Accepting Applications for PlanetM Testing Grant

Accelerate your company’s mobility innovation by accessing Michigan advanced testing facilities including:

• Mcity at the University of Michigan
• ACM
• GM Mobility Research Center at Kettering University
• Michigan Unmanned Aerial Systems Consortium
• Keweenaw Research Center at Michigan Technological University

Testing grant applications are evaluated on a rolling basis. To learn more or to apply, visit https://www.planetm.com/test-and-pilot/.

Upcoming Virtual Events

September 2: Automation Alley: Tech Takeover: Commercial and Fleet changing for Electric Vehicles
September 3: Plug and Play Virtual Launch (part of 2020 Michigan Minority Procurement Conference)
September 14: Moving Freight with Intelligent Vehicle Systems – Michigan Australia Exchange in Mobility (MAX) 
September 16: Michigan Central Sessions: Innovation District
September 22: Automotive Cybersecurity: A Conversation about Testing, Evaluation, and Industry Trends
September 23: a2TECH360: Ann Arbor Mobility Summit
October 6-7: TechCrunch Mobility 2020
October 22-23: Reuters Mobility Summit: Executive Leaders
November 18-19: Automobility LA

In The News

GM teases two new versions of all-electric Chevy Bolt
General Motors is offering a sneak peek of the two new versions of the Chevy Bolt, the automaker’s mass-market electric car that has been on sale since 2017. A refreshed Bolt and a larger Bolt Electric Utility Vehicle were first announced at the automaker’s “EV Day” earlier this year and are expected to enter production in summer 2021.

The glimpse we get of both vehicles is only a fleeting one, which makes sense because it was offered during GM’s virtual fleet solutions summit meeting recently. It shows a silhouette of th