The Innovation Report
Smart Mobility Today: 9 March 2026
I was born, raised, married, had children, and lived in Detroit. I am a major Detroit booster and Great Lakes protector and champion. I have camped on the edge of Lake Huron every summer for 45 years. One of my favorite things to do is show newbies a Great Lake. Their...
Ford Pivot To Grid Batteries: The $6B BlueOval SK Plan
Western automakers, and especially US auto manufacturers, have struggled to adapt to the EV revolution initially brought globally by Tesla, then by Chinese brands, and then by the rest of the industry. One reason has been a question of branding, as the legacy...
Michigan: Lyon Township Board Passes Moratorium On New Hyperscale Data Centers
The Lyon Township Board of Trustees unanimously approved a moratorium on data centers and large land uses, or facilities that exceed 100,000 square feet, while officials study various issues and update township ordinances.The move came during the board's March 2...
Scientists Make A Pocket-Sized AI Brain With Help From Monkey Neurons
A human brain consumes less power than a light bulb, while artificial intelligence systems guzzle electricity to do the same tasks. Now, scientists have created a highly efficient AI model that hints at how living brains are able to do so much with so little, a...
Gas Prices Going Up; Impact On Electric Vehicles
Oil prices have surged after the U.S. attack on Iran, and gas prices, in turn, are beginning to rise. It’s not clear yet how high they’ll go; that depends in part on how long the war lasts, how much the energy trade is disrupted, and how quickly we burn through the...
GM Rolls Out 100th Autonomous Test Vehicle
General Motors continues to push the metal on its autonomous driving program, recently rolling out its 100th test vehicle equipped for autonomy data collection. The milestone occurred at the General Motors Artisan Center in Warren, Michigan, marking a significant...
AGE Fisher Family Foundation Commits $10M To Establish Engineering Innovation And Entrepreneurship Center
Purdue University has received a $10 million commitment from the AGE Fisher Family Foundation to establish an innovation and entrepreneurship center within the College of Engineering. The foundation was created by longtime donors Jeff (BS electrical engineering ’80)...
IBM Launches First Infrastructure Innovation Center in India
Designed as a collaborative engineering hub, the center will bring together IBM’s systems architects and infrastructure specialists from ISDL to co-create AI solutions with clients, Independent Software Vendors (ISVs), Global System Integrators (GSIs), Global...
Newark Airport Set To Test Self-Driving Shuttles
Newark Liberty International Airport could soon be getting self-driving shuttles. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey is set to begin testing three models of the self-driving electric vehicles at the Jersey airport this spring to hopefully use them to...
Electric Flying Taxis Could Be In Miami Sooner Than You Think
Miami is still a long way from fixing its traffic and public transportation woes, but there may be a credible solution on the horizon — electric flying taxis. Companies around the world are racing to bring this technology to market, and many of them say South Florida...
