The Ford Motor Company is investing $740 million to restore Detroit’s Michigan Central Station Corktown neighborhood and create a new destination that will create the future of mobility. As part of the restoration project, Ford is seeking crowdsourced ideas on improving mobility.
The eight-month City:One mobility challenge is being conducted in partnership with the city of Detroit and the state mobility program, PlanetM. The focus is on helping residents overcome barriers to transportation; making the area more inviting and comfortable for active forms of transportation, such as walking and biking; enabling residents to travel to and from major destinations throughout Detroit without a car; developing a unified neighborhood by reducing the impact of highways and rail tracks; and, making key neighborhood services and amenities mobile to reduce or eliminate the need for various daily trips.
The Ford Mobility City:One team is hosting a series of dialogues and info sessions around mobility and transportation for community members to learn more about the City:One Challenge and the ways to get involved.
“City:One is a Ford mobility initiative that really is going to transform cities by solving mobility problems,” Aniela Kuzon, global lead of the Ford program, said at a media event Thursday. “We launched this initiative because when you think about how much mobility is changing, including the introduction of autonomous vehicles, it can be really daunting to figure out how all of these pieces fit together.”
In October, 2019, a committee of city officials, community stakeholders, and sponsors will select 12 finalists for pilot tests, backed by a $250,000 fund and an additional $78,000 in stipends. PlanetM is contributing $100,000 and AT&T, Dell Technologies, and Microsoft are also helping to fund the project. Ideas can be submitted through the challenge website, starting in August.
