Mobility: Decoding the Secret Sauce

More than a century ago, the Detroit region put the world on wheels and changed the transportation landscape forever. Today this ecosystem has grown into the densest cluster of automotive assets on the planet. And while Detroit remains the traditional center of the global automotive industry, it is now aggressively leading the industry's evolution towards a connected, shared, electric and autonomous future.

Despite our leadership in automotive and next-generation mobility, we came to realize that our story—Detroit’s story—was not one that was actively being told in a single place.

We can never build enough roads to keep up with our needs for mobility. So it is inevitable to think that as time goes on, we will continue to revolutionize the way we use the sky above us to solve our transportation and mobility problems.

On this episode of Mobility: Decoding the Secret Sauce, we talk to Robert Hastings, Executive Vice President of Communications and Government Affairs at Bell, an American aerospace manufacturer headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas.

Robert joins to talk about everything Intelligent Air Mobility, from on-demand services for the public to last-mile delivery of goods. He knows perception and trust will play a big role in consumer adoption and therefore Bell has already been hitting the market to familiarize the technology among consumers at events like CES and South by Southwest.

Electric vehicle adoption is complex and involves many moving parts including policy and legislation at the federal and state level.

On this episode of Mobility: Decoding the Secret Sauce, we talk to Michigan State Senator Mallory McMorrow (D-Royal Oak). As a freshman in the Michigan Senate, Senator McMorrow is taking her career in automotive and putting it to work. From convening industry stakeholders and co-chairing the Michigan Automotive Caucus to her four-bill package around electric vehicles introduced last year – she is truly a one-of-a-kind ambassador.

Senator McMorrow also talks to us about how she uses her own experience owning and driving an electric vehicle to bring awareness and education to her fellow legislators and how she is helping to drive EV infrastructure and accessibility forward in Michigan through storytelling.

Where does building trust for AVs start? With education and involving the public in the along the way. One organization is dedicating to helping the public understand the facts as a way to build trust and acceptance.

On this episode of Mobility: Decoding the Secret Sauce, we talk to Ed Niedermeyer, Communications Director at Partners for Automated Vehicle Education (PAVE). PAVE is a coalition of industry, nonprofits, and academics with a common goal: to inform the public about automated vehicles and their potential so everyone can play a role in shaping our future.

Ed joins us to talk about PAVE’s goal of raising public awareness of what is on the roads today and what is possible for the future of autonomous transportation. He talks about the importance of educating the public, socializing the technology to build trust, and holding space for conversations around automated vehicles.

Changing the car-centric mindset and habits of daily commuters isn’t easy—especially in a city nicknamed the Motor City.

On this episode of Mobility: Decoding the Secret Sauce, we talk to Kevin Bopp, Vice President of Parking and Mobility for Bedrock. Bedrock, a commercial real estate firm based in downtown Detroit, specializes in the development of urban cores. With a portfolio of more than 100 properties totaling over 18 million square feet, Bedrock is the largest real estate partner in downtown Detroit and also has a strong presence in Cleveland.

Kevin joins us to talk about their approach to getting employees and tenants to rethink their daily commutes and what that means for the company’s bottom line. Ultimately, the answer is about reducing the need for parking accommodations in a bustling downtown. And yet, it’s also much more than that. He talks about how changing habits takes time and education and how he focuses on making commute options personal and relevant for each individual to make sure they can find what works best for them.

 What does the mobility industry need more than anything? Smart, innovative people. How will it attract those people? That is the million-dollar question.

On this episode of Mobility: Decoding the Secret Sauce, we’ll talk to Carla Bailo, President and CEO of the Center for Automotive Research. Carla joins us to talk about the talent pipeline in the automotive and mobility industry and what is needed to attract and retain people. She talks about how automotive isn’t known as a “cool and sexy” career choice and how a collective approach from the industry could be the golden ticket to landing top talent across the industry to fuel the future of mobility.

“To trust or not to trust?”—that’s a question that is sure to pop into the heads of individuals as they stand in front of an autonomous vehicle for the first time.

On this episode of Mobility: Decoding the Secret Sauce, we’ll talk to Tara Lanigan, Director of Business Development at May Mobility—a self-driving micro-transit service. Tara joins us to talk about how May Mobility engages with the communities across the country that are home to their autonomous shuttle services.

She describes how a mix of communication efforts with government officials, public service agencies, and the local community helps drive user adoption and public perception for, not only May Mobility, but for the technology as a whole, one city at a time.

High stakes pitch meetings aren’t just for prime-time Shark Tank views or for laughs on HBO’s Silicon Valley. Pitching your company to investors is rite of passage for all startup entrepreneurs and it could, quite possibly, be your make it or break it moment.

Investors want to understand the value proposition and the possible return on their investment. Being able to articulate your company’s mission as well as the product and its use case is vital. Staying calm, clear, informed and descriptive will allow you to paint a compelling picture of your company and why it is worth investing in.

However, this type of storytelling takes time and practice. It shouldn’t be an afterthought but rather a key ingredient to the success of your mobility technology.

On this episode of Mobility: Decoding the Secret Sauce, we talk with Chris Thomas, Co-Founder and Partner at Assembly Ventures—a venture capital firm focused on investing in entrepreneurs and mobility companies and drawing synergies between the mobility startup ecosystems in the United States and Berlin. Chris joins us to talk about the role of strong communication strategies for entrepreneurs and startups seeking funding, especially in the highly competitive mobility industry.

Chris is no stranger to the mobility space. Not only did he start an investment firm with Bill Ford, of Ford Motor Company, he’s spent the last few years working to grow the talent and mobility ecosystem in the Motor City through the Detroit Mobility Lab and the Michigan Mobility Institute. He even worked to develop the first Masters of Mobility degree.

Over his career, Chris has seen his fair share of startup pitches—the good, the bad, and the average. Listen as he shares what he believes is the secret to successfully pitching in the mobility industry.

The success of mobility—whether it is AVs, EVs, aerial vehicles, public transit, or last-mile vehicles—will truly lie in public perception and public acceptance. Without these high adoption rates, even the best mobility platforms and technologies will fail to reach their full potential.

The secret sauce to success in the mobility industry will come down to this positive perception and acceptance driven through strategic marketing and communications efforts. Often companies are preoccupied with developing the tech, testing, and racing to be the first to market that they often neglect marcomms all together. Other times a marcomms strategy is an after-thought, added to turn around a struggling go-to-market strategy before it’s too late.

In this podcast, we will speak with industry stakeholders to learn more about what their company is doing to tackle perception and acceptance and what marcomms tactics they have implemented early on which has proven successful. It will also examine the importance of collective industry marcomms initiatives and how these could drive a higher rate of technology integration in a shorter period of time in consumer vehicles through mass acceptance in the marketplace.