Michigan creates chief mobility officer, council focused on auto tech industry

DETROIT -- Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed an executive order Tuesday creating a new Michigan Office of Future Mobility led by a chief mobility officer for the state focused on strategies to build up the automotive mobility tech sector.

Whitmer signed the directive on the hood of a Ford Motor Co. autonomous vehicle at a MICHAuto Summit in Detroit with auto industry leaders.

The Democratic governor also signed a second executive order establishing a Michigan Council on Future Mobility and Electrification.

The Office of Future Mobility will be housed within the state's Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity.

The chief mobility officer, their office and the new council will be focused on developing a talented workforce for developing artificial intelligence technologies for self-driving vehicles and "placing a greater emphasis on the importance of electrification and electric vehicle infrastructure and overall state strategy around mobility," Whitmer said.

Whitmer announced the new mobility industry initiatives after detailing the major auto industry investments the Detroit 3 have launched in the past year: Fiat Chrysler Automobiles' conversion of two east side Detroit engine plants into a new Jeep assembly plant; Ford Motor Co.'s plans to build a fully electric F-150 pickup in Dearborn; General Motors' retooling of its Detroit-Hamtramck plant to build electric vehicles, including a revived Hummer SUV.

"We are going to continue moving forward to keep our foot on the gas," Whitmer said. 

"This is a double and triple down for our industry," MICHAuto Executive Director Glenn Stevens said on stage at the one-day summit at the College of Creative Studies' Taubman Center in Detroit's New Center.

Jeff Donofrio, director of the state Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity, said he expects to fill the chief mobility officer position within "the next few weeks."

"We're looking for someone who understands the industry very well, understands the kind of north stars that we're trying to drive toward, right, which is making sure we have a strong auto industry that's able to pivot to the next generation of mobility," Donofrio said.