What’s happening: The Traverse City-based economic development organization
Traverse Connect is leading a new partnership that will test drones to deliver medical supplies and other healthcare services to underserved residents in rural Michigan. The pilot project is one of four advanced aerial projects to share in $6.25 million in recently announced funding from the state’s Advanced Aerial Mobility (AAM) Activation Fund.
What’s planned: Traverse Connect will launch the pilot program in Traverse City and throughout the greater Grand Traverse region, using drones, or unmanned aircraft systems, to test and scale the delivery of medical supplies and other critical healthcare services in a bid to improve rural health outcomes. The pilot will also test drones around Lake Michigan in use cases that include marine surveying, water sampling and testing, bathymetric mapping, and emergency response support.
How they’re doing it: Traverse Connect was awarded a $689,500 grant from the AAM Activation Fund toward the project, which is being launched in partnership with Munson Healthcare, DroneUp, blueflite, Northwestern Michigan College, Central Michigan University’s Rural Health Equity Institute, and Freshwater Research Innovation Center.
One of four: The three other grant winners include Vermont-based BETA Technologies ($2.6 million), which will install multimodal chargers at four of Michigan’s regional airports to create an interstate charging networks for next-generation aircrafts; Detroit’s Michigan Central ($2.45 million), which counts scaling digital and physical infrastructure to expand the capabilities of Advanced Aerial Mobility Region among its planned projects; and England’s Skyports Drone Services ($512,168), which will launch three proofs of concept with Michigan commercial partners, the first of which will be a ship-to-shore drone delivery pilot with Interlake Steamships and its Great Lakes fleet.
Why it’s important: “Michiganders have always been pioneers in the mobility space and now we’re taking to the skies, finding new ways to use next-generation transportation to deliver critical resources like medical supplies and food, reinforcing international partnerships and cross-border collaboration, and so much more,” says Michigan Chief Mobility Officer Justine Johnson. “The first round of AAM Activation Fund recipients will help ensure that Michigan stays at the forefront of high-tech aerial mobility solutions, diversifying our state’s mobility stake.”
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