Among the splashy investments and bold visions, Thomas also tucked in a mention of the Detroit Smart Parking Lab, a venture between Bosch, Ford Motor Co., the Michigan Economic Development Corp. and Dan Gilbert’s Bedrock real estate company. The American Center for Mobility, tapped to operate the Detroit facility when it was announced in 2021, opted out after the first year.
Thomas said the partners have committed to continuing the project, which aims to develop mobility and urban parking solutions, such as automated valet parking and wireless charging.
Automated valet parking developed at the lab has been deployed for commercial use in California and Europe. The lab also invites startups to tinker with their own technology. Stellantis was introduced to HEVO’s wireless charging tech at the lab before the automaker signed the startup to a contract.
The lab is not a revenue-generating operation for the founding companies, Thomas said. The value is in brand awareness and engagement with the city and startup.
“It’s basically opportunity-generating for our company,” Thomas said. “We love Detroit, so we said, how could we get a real presence in the city that deals with problems that the city may see?”
The venture appears to be working well for Bosch, because it is planning another mobility project in the city of Detroit akin to the parking lab. The company is keeping mum on details, though, at least for another few weeks.