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 electric vehicle utilization and education. 

To address these issues long-term, the group capitalized on southeast Michigan’s mobility boom and crafted six solutions:

  • A new transportation solution that will dynamically route shuttles and buses based on ride demand to drastically improve the transit experience by taking more direct routes and reducing the number of stops.
  • A revolutionary car sharing program that will provide low-cost car access to Detroiters through features that encourage responsible driving, lower insurance fees and operating costs.
  • A comprehensive parking platform that integrates dynamic pricing with a perks program to help Detroiters find parking at lower prices while fostering economic development and reducing congestion.
  • A public space in the heart of Detroit that residents and visitors can enjoy while fast-charging their EVs or learning about the benefits of EV technology, in addition to other state-of-the-art automotive technologies.
  • A traffic management system employing connected technology to provide priority to transit vehicles at signalized intersections.
  • A central intelligence hub that sources data from various infrastructure, vehicle and mobile device sources to enable the development of concepts that require access to big data.

Pilot deployment is expected within the next six months.