Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has announced that Michigan\nand Ontario are collaborating on a first-of-its kind technology initiative\ninvolving unmanned aerial systems (UAS), more commonly known as drones. This\neffort involves studying the feasibility of a commercial drone skyway in three\nproposed areas, including an international connection between Michigan and\nOntario, southeast Michigan, and any other suitable location in the state. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Through the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) and\nthe Michigan Aeronautics Commission (MAC), the State of Michigan, with support\nfrom the Michigan Office of Future Mobility and Electrification (OFME), the\nMichigan Economic Development Corp., and the Government of Ontario, through the\nOntario Vehicle Innovation Network (OVIN), will explore whether small drones\ncan be flown beyond the line of sight of a pilot and be used in operations like\njust-in-time delivery, medical transport, or other small-scale deployment of\nUAS. The information gathered from this feasibility study will be used to\nfurther decision-making in preparing for the future of advanced air mobility in\nNorth America. Another critical piece of information that will determine if and\nhow to proceed is the teams’ education and engagement with the communities\nsurrounding the areas where the feasibility study is done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Cross-border partnership is critical across all\ndimensions of mobility, including aerial systems. Michigan and Ontario have a\nrich history of partnering on groundbreaking innovations and this project by\nAir Space Link continues that tradition,” said Gov. Whitmer.\n“Considering the density of auto suppliers, logistic companies, technology\nstart-ups, and consumers in the region, it is a natural fit to test this\ncutting-edge aerial technology here. The vital research could lead to faster\nproduct deliveries and reduced supply chain disruptions in the future, helping\nus grow Michigan’s economy and put Michiganders first.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Ontario has a strong and strategically important\neconomic connection with the State of Michigan,” said Ontario Premier Doug\nFord. “We welcome this opportunity to further deepen that relationship and\nfoster new jobs and economic opportunities in developing industries now and\nwell into the future.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A newly formed partnership with Airspace Link, a\nDetroit-based drone technology start-up, and their partners at Thales USA, the\nNorthern Plains UAS Test Site, Aviation Innovations LLC, CityFi, and Grand Sky\nDevelopment Co. LLC will develop a feasibility analysis as a first step to\nestablish infrastructure required to support a range of commercial and public\nadvanced air mobility use cases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Another key partner in two of the three proposed areas will\nbe the Michigan Central mobility innovation district in the Corktown\nneighborhood of Detroit. Their collaboration with key stakeholders from the\nstate and city will help advance this research and innovation to a broader idea\nof autonomy that goes beyond vehicles on the road, but also the water or sky.\nIn addition, their community-based outreach sets a precedent for how other\npartners exploring and testing in the Michigan Central impact area educates and\nconducts feedback from the residents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Michigan Central’s aim really is to serve as an open\nplatform for collaboration – drawing the best minds from around the world to\nco-create and test mobility solutions on real-world streets, in real-world situations,”\nsaid Carolina Pluszczynski, Michigan Central development director. “That\nincludes, in this case, bringing in the best from here in the States and also\nacross the way to Ontario to push the boundaries of how we look at autonomy as\npart of this aerial mobility corridor. But no matter what we’re exploring, the\nideas or solutions need to have one ultimate purpose: to improve access and\nequity for all, and that is why community engagement from the offset will\nalways remain key to us.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In addition, the Airspace Link team will provide an analysis\nof existing airspace, air traffic infrastructure, and ground infrastructure\nrequired to ensure operational safety of commercial drone skyway. The analysis\nalso will include the potential economic impacts, applicable state and local\nzoning restrictions, environmental factors (like social equity and noise\nconsiderations), travel impacts, and connections to existing aviation, surface\ntransportation, and transit modes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis unmanned aerial system joint venture with Ontario\nbuilds on the extensive work underway to make Michigan a global leader in the\ndevelopment and deployment of mobility technologies that will benefit society,\nprotect the environment, and strengthen our economy,” said State Transportation\nDirector Paul C. Ajegba. “We look forward to demonstrating beyond visual\nline of sight commercial UAS operations are not only safe, efficient and\nfeasible, but also that the technology can be employed to better connect the\nintermodal transportation system that many in Michigan rely upon.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“New and emerging transportation technologies offer\nenormous potential to improve the way we move people and goods,” said\nOntario Minister of Transportation Caroline Mulroney. “Ontario is a leader\nin connected and automated vehicle technologies, and working together with\nMichigan, we are taking important steps to explore how drones can be used to\nsafely ship goods.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“We know the future of mobility is more than just\nvehicles – it is on air, land and sea,” said Chief Mobility Officer Trevor\nPawl, OFME. “Michigan is uniquely positioned to study, test and deploy the\ntechnologies that will lead to more affordable, accessible transportation\nsolutions and are proud to continue to build on our strong relationship with Ontario\nto take a collaborative, innovative approach to these efforts.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“This is a great collaboration between economic\npartners across the Ontario-Michigan border,” said Ontario Minister of\nEconomic Development, Job Creation and Trade Vic Fedeli. “Ontario is an\nimportant trading partner to more than half of U.S. states, Michigan among\nthem. This effort, through our exciting new OVIN program, will help strengthen\neconomic growth and job creation in Windsor, and across Ontario’s modern\nautomotive supply chain, the largest in Canada.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Today’s announcement builds on Gov. Whitmer’s announcement in August that Michigan and Ontario were extending their longstanding collaboration on transportation and cross-border activities, with MDOT and OVIN signing a Memorandum of Understanding to explore the implementation of a cross-border, multimodal testbed for advanced automotive and mobility solutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Fast facts:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Quick Facts:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has announced that Michigan and Ontario are collaborating on a first-of-its kind technology initiative involving unmanned aerial systems (UAS), more commonly known as drones. This effort involves studying the feasibility of a commercial drone skyway in three proposed areas, including an international connection between Michigan and Ontario, southeast Michigan, and any […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20528","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-michigan"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20528","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20528"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20528\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20529,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20528\/revisions\/20529"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20528"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20528"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20528"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}