Three panelists will join the group to discuss everything mobility-related since our last meetup and what may lay ahead for the industry.

• Adam Jensen - Director, Plug and Play
• Brian Cabell - Digital Innovation Manager, FCA
• Michelle Sourie Robinson - President and CEO, Michigan Minority Supplier Development Council

Joining the Meetup
A confirmation email with the link to join the meeting will be sent upon registration. Following the opening remarks and presentation, the event will open up for facilitated networking. Virtual Mobility Meetup Connect is an ongoing connection platform through Connect Space. Separate but complementary from the virtual mobility meetup webinar, mobility meetup attendees can register in the platform at any time, and connect with others via the PlanetM app. Users can set up meetings within the app or take things offline. View instructions and register to start connecting here.

For more information, please contact Devon O'Reilly by phone at 313-402-0371, or reach out to the PlanetM team at PlanetM@michigan.org. Miss the last meetup? Tune in here for the conversation with our panel of the PlanetM COVID-19 Mobility Solutions Grant recipients. 

Congratulations to the Female Founders in Mobility Winners

Quesnay has announced the winners of the 2020 Female Founders in Mobility competition in the following order:

1. Mary Mwangi, CEO, Data Integrated – Nairobi, Kenya
2. Maya Pindeus, CEO, Humanising Autonomy – London, England
3. Tiffany Chu, CEO and Co-Founder, Remix – - San Francisco, California

Over 50 women-led startups, from 13 states within the US and 40 cities across the globe, submitted their solutions to the inaugural Female Founders in Mobility 2020 innovation competition. The winners were selected by expert judges after hearing a pitch on each company’s dynamic and market-ready solutions.

Click here to learn more about the winners, finalists, judges and more about the competition.

#MobilitySpotlight: Airspace Link Inc.

The COVID-19 pandemic has created opportunities for Michael Healander to think different about the future of his company, Airspace Link Inc., which saw skyrocketed growth in early 2020.

The company closed on a $4M fundraising round in January which led to conferences, media and product launches, but has since developed a new long-term strategy to stretch funding as far as possible in response to implications of COVID-19. Creative tactics such as leveraging Invest Detroit Ventures’ Hacker Fellows program rather than bringing on full-time engineers is just one adjustment Airspace Link is undertaking. With a pandemic-adjusted game plan moving forward, the company is poised to emulate the success of early 2020 as we emerge from this.

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/.

Discover Auto: MichAuto is Continuing Student-to-Student Business Connections Amid Uncertain Times

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way we all conduct business, socialize and learn. These adjustments have been especially evident within the education system. As advocates and supporters of Michigan’s up-and-coming automotive workforce, MICHauto is committing to the continuation of the Discover Auto program, which connects high school students with automotive industry leaders to learn about career opportunities and company culture.

As the school year closes out, the MICHauto team has been planning for Discover Auto programs in the fall. While hopeful to resume in-person tours, the team has opted to move forward in a virtual format to ensure adherence to health and safety guidelines of both schools and host companies. This transition was met with excitement due to the opportunity to expand the reach of the program across the state. If you are interested in becoming a host company, please contact Jenny Orletski-Dehne at jorletski@michauto.org.

Mobility Resources

READ THE LATEST FROM BOBBY CHASNIS, DIRECTOR, PURE MICHIGAN BUSINESS CONNECT
Michigan manufacturers are reimagining what normal is after COVID-19

GROW DETROIT'S YOUNG TALENT

Grow Detroit's Young Talent (GDYT) is a summer jobs program that trains and employs young Detroiters between the ages of 14 and 24 for up to 120 hours that employed 8,000 local youths last summer. This is an amazing opportunity to get more young Detroiters engaged in the Mobility and Tech sectors and invest in the next generation of our workforce. There are three ways you or your company can become involved in GDYT:

1. Become an Employer Partner by providing a job at your company and sponsor of youth. If you cannot financially support a full sponsorship, there is a 50:50 match program available. Online work experiences can be offered by an employer through a computer or tablet.

2. Become a Funding Partner and make an investment in GDYT to support youth wages, digital devices, Internet connectivity and other program costs.

3. Sign up as a Virtual Mentor and make a direct investment in a young person’s life by helping guide their personal and professional development.

More information on Grow Detroit’s Young Talent can be found here.

RESOURCES FOR BUSINESSES

For a list of resources and information for Michigan businesses during the COVID-19 outbreak – including resources for reopening and relief programs – visit michiganbusiness.org/covid19.

Upcoming Virtual Events

June 24: Ann Arbor SPARK: Creating Culture in Your Company and Using it to Build Success
June 25: How they pivoted: Buying and supplying in the wake of COVID-19
June 25: Emerging Issues in Cybersecurity: A Quickstart Guide to ISO/UNECE Standards within Automotive
July 7-8: Reuters Events: Impact Mobility: Virtual Summit
July 8: Ann Arbor SPARK: Leadership is Exhausting: How to Overcome the Hurdle and Enjoy It
June 29-July 17: Back 2 Business: Virtual B2B Auto Expo
July 16: Pandemic Pivots: Ann Arbor Mobility Startups Responding to COVID-19
July 23: HTUF: Vehicle Electrification: Lessons from commercial industry and the military
August 4-5: CAR MBS 2020
August 18-20: TU-Automotive Detroit 2020
August 20: HTUF: How vehicle electrification contributes to the development of microgrids
September 17: HTUF: Cybersecurity in advanced commercial & military vehicle development

In The News

GM’s Cruise names first dedicated safety chief
General Motors' self-driving subsidiary, Cruise, has hired Louise Zhang, a top engineer at Lucid Motors who helped build Tesla's safety team, as its first dedicated safety chief.

Zhang oversaw vehicle safety and regulatory compliance for Lucid since 2015 after spending nearly six years at Tesla. She was responsible for overall safety of the Model S sedan and Model X SUV, which received five-star ratings in government crash testing.

Zhang also previously worked as an engineer at Delphi Automotive, leading safety system integration projects with Chinese automakers in Shanghai.

AV developers dispute IIHS study findings
Companies working on self-driving vehicles have criticized an insurance industry study suggesting that only a third of all U.S. road crashes could be prevented by driverless cars, arguing that the study has underestimated the technology's capabilities.

The study by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety released on Thursday analyzed 5,000 U.S. crashes and concluded that likely only those caused by driver perception errors and incapacitation could be prevented by self-driving cars.

The autonomous vehicle industry quickly responded that its cars were programmed to prevent a vastly higher number of potential crash causes, including more complex errors caused by drivers making inadequate or incorrect evasive maneuvers.

FCA is Israeli startup’s latest automotive partner for data
Ben Volkow's first attempts to play matchmaker between two reluctant partners were a lonely endeavor.

The founder of Otonomo sought to connect automakers holding troves of new vehicular data with third parties that could buy the information on the company's new platform and find novel uses for it. Early on, it was difficult to find companies willing to take the first step.

"With a marketplace, it's very hard to start," said Volkow, CEO of the Israeli startup, which he founded in 2015. "It's like starting a tango. The OEMs wanted to know which companies had signed up, and the other guys wanted to know what OEMs were signed up and supplying data. It was two steps forward, one step back for a long while."

Volkswagen closes $2.6 billion investment in self-driving start-up Argo AI
Volkswagen AG has closed on its $2.6 billion investment in Argo AI, the Pittsburgh-based autonomous vehicle start-up announced Tuesday.

The German automaker’s deal with Argo and Ford Motor, which acquired a majority stake in the start-up in 2017, included $1 billion in cash and Argo taking over VW’s European self-driving unit, valued at $1.6 billion, as well as the unit’s more than 200 employees. VW also agreed to purchase $500 million in shares of Argo from Ford over a three-year period. The deal was first announced in July.

Exclusive: GM plans electric van for business user in bid to pre-empt Tesla
General Motors Co is developing an electric van aimed at business users, joining a growing list of carmakers planning EVs for the same segment which includes customers such as Amazon.com Inc and United Parcel Service Inc, five people familiar with the plans told Reuters.

That multibillion-dollar strategy could enable GM, Ford Motor Co and at least two EV startups to build and deliver more electric vehicles at a time when consumer demand for battery-powered models is still a small fraction of overall industry sales, while targeting a potentially lucrative market segment that Tesla Inc has yet to address.

Stay connected to the resources dedicated to the evolution of transportation mobility by visiting PlanetM.com. If you’re a company with autonomous, connected, electric or shared transportation technologies interested in tapping into PlanetM’s collaborative work space, visit PlanetMLandingZone.com.