Ford Motor Co & Google to Serve as Founding Partners of Detroit's 'Michigan Central Innovation District'

author: Eric Walz   

The Innovation District will be anchored by the historic Michigan Central Train Station in Detroit, which is currently undergoing a full-scale restoration by Ford.

When Ford Motor Co purchased Detroit's iconic but crumbling Michigan Central Train Station in 2018, the automaker announced plans to convert the building and surrounding areas into an innovation zone to support advanced mobility projects in Detroit.

Now those plans are beginning to take shape as Ford announced that tech giant Google will be a founding partner in its ongoing efforts to convert the Detroit neighborhood known as Corktown into a hub of mobility innovation. The zone will be anchored by the historic Michigan Central Train Station, which is currently undergoing a full-scale restoration by Ford.

Michigan Gov Gretchen Whitmer was joined today by Ford Executive Chairman Bill Ford, Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan and Google Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Ruth Porat to announce the new partnership.

Ford and Google will serve as founding partners in order to activate the Michigan Central Innovation District and attract and retain highly skilled talent and high-growth companies while supporting the development of nearby neighborhoods

The mobility innovation district will serve as a global hub for talent, mobility innovation, sustainability, affordable housing, small business opportunities and community engagement and will help transform the entire Corktown neighborhood of Detroit into a hub of mobility innovation.

Google is providing its cloud technology for Michigan Central's future mobility projects. The Mountain View, California-based company will also leverage the assets of the district to collaborate on new products and services that will define the future of mobility. 

Both Google and Ford will also help mentor entrepreneurs and local businesses, as well as develop the workforce in Detroit. Google will offer workforce development training to local high school students and job seekers.

"We're proud to join Ford as a Founding Member at Michigan Central," said Ruth Porat, Chief Financial Officer, Google. "This partnership will expand our work in Michigan and help a substantial number of people gain the skills and tools they need to succeed."

As part of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between Ford, the city of Detroit and Michigan, the state plans to align more than $126 million in new and existing investments to support the goals of the district. 

The pledge involves the cross-departmental collaboration between the Michigan Office of Future Mobility and Electrification (OFME), the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC), Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity (LEO), Michigan State Housing Development Authority (MSHDA) and Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT).

The Michigan Central Train Station closed in 1988 and the building was left abandoned for years. The crumbling structure became a symbol of Detroit's urban blight. But now it will become a symbol of the city's rebirth as a center of mobility innovation, which is fitting as Detroit was the birthplace of the U.S. auto industry over 100 years ago.

"Only a few short years ago, I announced Ford's investment in Detroit because I believed in a vision that reimagined the iconic Michigan Central train station and surrounding area as a place of possibility again," said Bill Ford, Executive Chair, Ford Motor Company.  "The arrival of Google as a founding partner is exactly the kind of investment and progress I knew was possible to revitalize our hometown."

In April of last year, Ford announced it was partnering with the state of Michigan, real estate developer Bedrock and automotive supplier Bosch by launching what they say is the first of its kind real-world test site for autonomous parking technology called the "Detroit Smart Parking Lab" (DSPL) in Corktown.

The lab, which is located inside a multi-level parking garage, will also test parking-related mobility, logistics and electric vehicle charging technologies.

The 450-space, mixed-use, parking structure was built to accommodate the newly renovated Corktown Lofts building also known as "The Assembly", which is a mixed-use space consisting of residential, office, and retail space that combined, totals 160,000 square feet in Detroit's Corktown neighborhood near Michigan Central Station.

Once renovations at Michigan Central Station are complete, Ford says it will be the centerpiece of its new 30-acre mobility innovation district in Corktown that will help define the way people and goods move around in the future.

Eric Walz

Originally hailing from New Jersey, Eric is a automotive & technology reporter covering the high-tech industry here in Silicon Valley. He has over 15 years of automotive experience and a bachelors degree in computer science. These skills, combined with technical writing and news reporting, allows him to fully understand and identify new and innovative technologies in the auto industry and beyond. He has worked at Uber on self-driving cars and as a technical writer, helping people to understand and work with technology.