Skip to main content

Derq picks up first grant from Michigan’s PlanetM

Dubai-based software company Derq is the first recipient of a grant under a new $1 million programme from Michigan state’s technology innovation facilitator PlanetM. Derq’s V2X software applications to predict and prevent accidents recently went live at a Detroit intersection, said Georges Aoude, chief executive and co-founder of Derq. “In addition to the grant, PlanetM has shown us that Michigan state is open for business,” he said. Over the coming year companies including Derq will get 75% of the costs
June 6, 2018 Read time: 2 mins
© F11photo | Dreamstime.com
Dubai-based software company Derq is the first recipient of a grant under a new $1 million programme from Michigan state’s technology innovation facilitator 8439 PlanetM.


Derq’s V2X software applications to predict and prevent accidents recently went live at a Detroit intersection, said Georges Aoude, chief executive and co-founder of Derq. “In addition to the grant, PlanetM has shown us that Michigan state is open for business,” he said. Over the coming year companies including Derq will get 75% of the costs of any testing programme including at Mcity, a self-contained 20 hectare “fake city” just outside Detroit.

“The start-up technology being tested here in Michigan will lead to meaningful improvements in thei quality of life and access to transportation solutions thr oughout the state,” said Trever Pawl, vice-president of PlanetM, the mobility research arm of the Michigan Economic Development Commission.

“We’re constantly working to address the needs of those people engaged in the mobility community and we’re taking it to the next level through testing and deployment,” said Pawl.

Booth 300

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Cost Benefit: Utah traffic light scheme pays dividends
    March 15, 2019
    A traffic signal control scheme in Utah is being taken up by other US authorities. David Crawford finds out how the Beehive State is leading the way in DoT and driver savings Growing numbers of US state departments of transportation (DoTs) and their road users are gaining real financial benefits from an advanced approach to traffic signal monitoring recently developed in Utah. Central to the system is its use of automated traffic signal performance measures (ATSPM) technology, brought in to improve th
  • Autonomous cars just years from reality says Verizon CEO
    September 10, 2014
    The technology exists to make self-driving cars an emerging reality in the next three to five years - if the country will build the infrastructure and the government will issue the necessary rules, the CEO of wireless communications company Verizon told the Detroit Economic Club on Monday. His comments, reported by the Detroit News, came the day after the announcement that Michigan will install cameras and sensors along 120 miles of Detroit freeways to connect cars wirelessly to highways and each other.
  • Ertico weaves tunnel visions into the ‘big picture’
    April 7, 2017
    As he takes the wheel at Ertico - ITS Europe, Jacob Bangsgaard talks to ITS International about the challenges and opportunities facing the organisation and the ITS industry. Ertico - ITS Europe’s new CEO, Jacob Bangsgaard, is no stranger to the organisation having spent five years there before moving to the FIA (Federation Internationale de l’Automobile) in 2006. Four years later he became director general of the FIA’s Region I (EMEA), which represents more than 100 mobility clubs, and in 2012 he joined Er
  • Ertico weaves tunnel visions into the ‘big picture’
    April 7, 2017
    As he takes the wheel at Ertico - ITS Europe, Jacob Bangsgaard talks to ITS International about the challenges and opportunities facing the organisation and the ITS industry. Ertico - ITS Europe’s new CEO, Jacob Bangsgaard, is no stranger to the organisation having spent five years there before moving to the FIA (Federation Internationale de l’Automobile) in 2006. Four years later he became director general of the FIA’s Region I (EMEA), which represents more than 100 mobility clubs, and in 2012 he joined Er