Derq Inc. used a $80,000 grant from PlanetM to install smart technology in downtown Detroit at the busy intersection of Jefferson Avenue and Randolph Street.
PlanetM Derq Inc. used a $80,000 grant from PlanetM to install smart technology in downtown Detroit at the busy intersection of Jefferson Avenue and Randolph Street.

The state’s business development arm for mobility will offer up to $1 million in grants to startups looking to test transportation ideas in Michigan.

PlanetM announced the new yearlong funding program Wednesday during the 2018 Intelligent Transportation Society of America annual meeting at Cobo Center in downtown Detroit.

Downtown Detroit is already home to the product of the program’s first grant. Through PlanetM, the Michigan Department of Transportation enlisted Dubai- and Detroit-based Derq Inc. to install artificial intelligence-based software at the difficult intersection of Jefferson Avenue and Randolph Street, said Trevor Pawl, vice president of PlanetM.