Drones, Robots, and Roads that Charge Electric Vehicles: What’s Happening at Michigan Central

In the two years since the official launch of Michigan Central, the number of companies it houses has grown from 25 to 240, including more than 150 early-stage companies. More than 20 venture capital firms have given startups access to more than $1 billion in funding. And at least 25 unique infrastructure assets — like one of the country’s largest dedicated zones for urban drone testing — have been developed within the dense urban area, helping make Detroit’s innovation ecosystem the second fastest growing in the world, behind only Dubai.

“The vision for Michigan Central was founded on this powerful idea that when you bring the right stakeholders together, you can drive the future forward through innovation and collaboration,” said Carolina Pluszczynski, chief operating officer and head of innovation services, Michigan Central.  “That vision has been our ‘why,’ and we've been putting the building blocks in place ever since.” 

At a recent media forum at Michigan Central, Pluszczynski led a panel discussion with leaders from Newlab Detroit, Michigan Central’s venture platform partner; the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, which is supporting infrastructure and policy; and the Boys & Girls Club of Southeastern Michigan, which is building the future workforce pipeline from Detroit neighborhoods and opening a new hub on the Youth Floor of The Station at Michigan Central.

Michigan Central, a 30-acre tech and cultural hub, is uniquely positioned to reimagine the future of transportation and mobility. It offers the ability to collaborate with like-minded startups in a tech innovation ecosystem, infrastructure that doesn’t exist anywhere else, and access to leaders from universities, state and local governments, community organizations, global companies, and venture capital firms.  

Testing Urban Drones

One example is the Advanced Aerial Innovation Region or AAIR, which spans more than 3 square miles across southeast Michigan, creating one of the country’s largest dedicated zones for urban drone testing.

“We partnered with the state of Michigan, Newlab, and Airspace Link and built a place that has the technology, the operating systems, and the digital and physical environment where you can test drones in a safe way,” said Pluszczynski.

Bill Johnson is the chief financial officer for Airspace Link, one of the first startup tenants at Newlab. His company is working to build the digital infrastructure to integrate drones safely into everyday transportation systems at scale.

“From the very beginning, we felt that we were always getting connected with the right people, and then we built AAIR,” he said. “Because we were here, we were talking to people that wanted to invest alongside us in this type of pilot to be able to prove that we are compliant with the FAA, that we have a scalable model that can be taken and dropped into other cities, and that we can be expanded throughout the entire state. We've felt a great deal of support and like-minded innovation here.”

Airspace Link and other mobility startups are advancing innovations quickly thanks to Michigan Central’s Transportation Innovation Zone, which reduces the time needed to get a permit from months to days, enabling startups to test and scale solutions much faster.

Bringing diverse stakeholders together to solve real-world problems is what Pluszczynski describes as Michigan Central’s “secret sauce.”

“It allows you to accelerate the pace of advancing technologies and solutions,” she said.

Underwater Robots, Innovative Charging Solutions for Electric Vehicles

Below are examples of additional innovations being developed at Michigan Central as startups receive the support needed to scale their businesses:

• An autonomous underwater robot that inspects live, pressurized water mains —navigating pipelines, capturing videos, and finding defects. The goal is to detect issues with aging water mains before problems occur, causing costly breaks and water loss.
• Modular robotic platforms that simplify last-mile delivery and logistics automation, removing barriers to adoption by offering standardized hardware and software modules and enabling businesses to deploy autonomous systems quickly and cost effectively.
• Retrofits that turn existing lamp posts into modular electric vehicle charging stations, cutting installation time to under two hours and eliminating the need for costly trenching or construction.
• An end-to-end charging infrastructure that uses proprietary inductive technology and works with any type of electric vehicle to enable fast and safe charging, both while driving and parked.

Equally important as the technology being developed at Michigan Central is the world-class talent the ecosystem is attracting, and the jobs being created for Detroit’s youth.

“These aren’t just livable-wage jobs. They are careers that allow residents to not just survive but thrive,” said Shawn Wilson, president and CEO, Boys & Girls Clubs of Southeastern Michigan. “That means that this innovation is next level as far as the impact and raising up the entire community. That’s super powerful.”