In its famed Mackinac Policy Conference “To-Do List” unveiled as this event closed, the Detroit Regional Chamber placed a broad emphasis on work that would ensure “continued leadership in automotive and next-generation mobility” here in Michigan. [1,2]
Though 2019 did not have the sort of headline visibility seen here on the island last year — with visions of “Transforming the Motor City Into the Mobility City” and anticipation that “Ford’s Mobility Revolution Will Reshape the World” — it was undeniably an implied as a key component in delivering on the three pillars of the current One Michigan theme. [3]
- “Prepare Michigan,” by focusing on “Education and Talent”
- “Grow Michigan,” through “Economic Development and Entrepreneurship”
- “Love Michigan,” with support for “Sustainability and Stewardship”
Yesteday morning, Alisyn Malek, COO and Co-founder of Ann Arbor-based May Mobility leveraged her “Mackinac Moment” on the main stage of the Grand Hotel theatre yesterday morning to revisit fundamental promises that have been made about the potential of autonomous vehicles. [4-6]
Back in 2016, 2017, people were saying, ‘AVs will be able to drive everywhere [by 2018]. That was an overstatement ….
But I also thought that it was very interesting that most automotive companies wanted to focus on using this technology to go up against Uber and Lyft and other ride-sharing companies. From a business perspective, this kind of, maybe made sense. But the technology wasn’t there yet. [7-10]
And it ignored the unintended consequences of what Uber and Lyft had brought to some cities: In many cases you actually have increased congestion, fewer people getting access to transportation ….
With the proper approach, however, she argued that autonomous vehicles can fulfill the promise of “the day where you’re not worried about carpooling, getting the kids to soccer practice. You’re not concerned that your aging parents are going to make their doctors appointments.
And you can have time back. Because you are not stuck in congested traffic, on your way to and from work. Think about what you could do with that time. The friends and the family you could spend time with — or even be by yourself.
We think that future is a real future, and an exciting one, to work towards.
As we think about how to achieve those types of goals we think about right size transportation. The right thing to support where you’re trying to get to.
Another word that we use for that is ‘multimodal transportation’ — or ‘multimodal mobility.’ We all take multimodal trips; we just don’t call them that.
When you walk to your car, and you get in your car and you drive to work, and then you walk to your office: You just took a multimodal trip. A kind of plain one, only two options. But you took one.
We think that the future is even more exciting when we expand how we think about mobility options. What if your multimodal trip could include bikes and scooters? Walking, buses, trains, ferries. Horse-drawn carriages. And even personally-owned vehicles.
When we work toward this multimodal future, it allows all of us to have better options. People that want to get to work quickly can get to work quickly. And you can pick the option that helps you to do that. People that need to get to work affordably, or accessibly, can have those options.
… our existing road networks can actually support all of this transportation — and more people — if we think about it in the right way.
Ms Malek emphasized that “We to recognize that the future of mobility is more than just the vehicle. It’s about the whole transportation journey, the whole trip.”
All of this provided important foundational context to the May 29 announcement during the Mackinaw Policy Conference of a request for proposals in support of “The NAIAS 2020 Mobility Challenge.” This was led by Governor Gretchen Whitmer, accompanied by her lieutenant governor and representatives of the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT), PlanetM, and North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) show management. [11-14]
While emphasizing that the purpose here is to encourage submission of ideas not even imagined here, the governor responded to questions by suggesting that responses might include approaches to autonomous vehicle transportation offerings in and around the now summertime 2020 Cobo Center event. She also suggested that some form of transport for travelers between DTW and downtown Detroit would be appealing.
Will that mean autonomous shuttles running on I-94 at highway speeds? Seemlessly integrated multimodal mobility handoffs from airport arrival gates to the steps of Cobo Center? Whatever the answer is, it will be here for all to see just over twelve months from today.
And with Ann Arbor SPARK “a2Tech360” opening next week, the timing couldn’t be better for considering direction that Washtenaw County Michigan companies may take in rising to the challenge. [15-17]
By all appearances, artificial intelligence, autonomous vehicles, and multimodal transportation are not just continuing world and national priorities, but a space in which the State of Michigan is passionately unified in its position to lead.
References
- “2019 Mackinac Policy Conference” Detroit Regional Chamber.
- Detroit Regional Chamber (home page).
- “Ready or Not, Autonomous Vehicles Rolled Further Ahead This Week Toward Inevitability with Mobility for All” Dell Deaton (May 31, 2018) Saline Journal.
- Alisyn Malek (LinkedIn Profile).
- May Mobility (home page).
- “Mackinac Moment: Alisyn Malek | Mackinac Policy Conference 2019” Detroit Public TV (May 30, 2019) YouTube.
- Uber (home page).
- Lyft (home page).
- “Autonomous Vehicles Promise to Solve Downtown Parking Problems” Dell Deaton (March 19, 2018) Saline Journal.
- Maven (home page).
- “New mobility challenge calls on industry innovators to propose dynamic technology deployments” The Office of Governor Gretchen Whitmer.
- “Autonomous Vehicle Mobility Solutions: North American International Auto Show (NAIAS): 2020 Michigan Mobility Challenge” (May 29, 2019) Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT).
- North American International Auto Show (home page).
- “‘PlanetM’ Is Key Element Of Michigan Strategy To Shape Its Own Destiny Through Public-Private Partnerships, Part 1” Dell Deaton (December 27, 2018) Saline Journal.
- Ann Arbor SPARK (home page).
- “a2Tech360” Ann Arbor SPARK.
- “Phil Santer on tech in Saline: A lot more innovation is happening than you may realize” Phil Santer (May 21, 2019) Saline Journal.
