DETROIT - Five innovation drivers are producing new competencies, technologies and competitors that will transform a brake-system value chain that has existed for decades. These five innovation drivers will have a major impact on how vehicles operate and how automakers and brake-system suppliers do business. Cooperation is one of the models that will allow companies
LANSING - The state of Michigan, city of Detroit, and numerous businesses and nonprofits recently teamed up to address the mobility challenges Detroit residents face with the Detroit Mobility Initiative. After research and extensive listening sessions, four focus areas were identified as initial priority projects. Focus areas include neighborhood mobility, downtown accessibility, traffic safety and
SOUTHFIELD – For the second consecutive year, Lawrence Technological University is the world champion of autonomous vehicles. LTU won the Self-Drive Challenge competition at the 26th Annual Intelligent Ground Vehicle Competition, held last week at Oakland University in Rochester. The winning vehicle is called ACTor, for Autonomous Campus Transport/Taxi. The two-seat Polaris Gem electric vehicle
MACKINAC ISLAND – Gov. Rick Snyder this week announced an $8 Million Michigan Mobility Challenge grant initiative to address core mobility gaps for seniors, persons with disabilities and veterans across the state. Michigan is the international hub of automotive innovation and the Mobility Challenge leverages this ecosystem to ensure everyone in the state has access
TROY - In-Wheel Electric Motor company Protean Electric announced this week that it has completed a $40 million equity investment as the initial closing of its Series E funding round. Protean, founded in 2009 as a spinout of a bankrupt English electric motor manufacturer, has approximately 110 employees. The company has research and engineering offices in
ROYAL OAK - Guneet Bedi is the vice president sales and general manager Americas at relayr, a complete IoT Solutions using a combination of software, consulting services, insurance, and finance to help manufacturers stay relevant in the age of Industry 4.0 Bedi, in an interview on M2 TechCast, said relayr allows original equipment manufacturers migrate
WIXOM – Auto supplier Kiekert is moving its manufacturing operations to a new 41,000 square foot plant in Wixom, part of a $3 million expansion to double the Kiekert’s production capacity in the United States. The company’s previous production facility in Wixom will continue to serve as Kiekert’s research-and-development center. It leads the company’s engineering
ANN ARBOR — Connected cruise control uses vehicle-to-vehicle communication to let automated vehicles respond to multiple cars at a time in an effort to save energy and improve safety. University of Michigan researchers have demonstrated its effectiveness on public roads, even when just one automated vehicle is moving among human-driven cars. Vehicle-to-vehicle communication, or V2V,
OTTAWA LAKE - The Toyota Research Institute will build a closed-course 60-acre test facility at Michigan Technical Resource park in Ottawa Lake that will become operational in October to develop automated vehicle technology. Construction permits were filed this week. The new site will be used exclusively by TRI to safely replicate demanding “edge case” driving
ROYAL OAK - Milan Stevanovich, vice president of global strategy for the Detroit Chinese Business Association, discussed the recent Detroit-China Cross Border Investment Summit he hosted at NextEnergy on April 19 that featured a full day focusing on collaborative investment opportunities between the U.S. and China. The TED-style conference emphasized collaborative investment opportunities in the
