Hillwood is leveraging its nationally renowned AllianceTexas multimodal
development to create a cutting-edge center of innovation that will be a
global catalyst for the future of mobility. AllianceTexas is the
company’s 26,000-acre master-planned development and inland port north
of Fort Worth, which is home to Fort Worth Alliance Airport, BNSF
Railway’s Alliance Intermodal Facility, FedEx Southwest Regional Sort
Hub, Amazon Air’s newest regional air hub, and more than 500 global and
regional brands. The company plans to collaborate with its anchor
corporations, future customers, policy makers, regulators,
entrepreneurs, and academic institutions to develop a first-of-its-kind
mobility innovation “do-tank” for partners to develop, test, scale, and
commercialize advanced mobility technology and business models.
“Dallas-Fort Worth is regarded as one of the world’s premier
transportation hubs, and for the last 30 years AllianceTexas has played
a significant role in the region’s growth and success,” said Ross Perot
Jr., chairman of Hillwood, developer of AllianceTexas. “With more than
500 corporations in residence at AllianceTexas, including many of the
world’s leading transportation and logistics companies, the development
continues to be an epicenter of growth and ingenuity that will provide
top innovators with everything they need to succeed, from transportation
infrastructure to world-class amenities, and access to a highly skilled
workforce.”
Hillwood has engaged Deloitte’s Future of Mobility Global Practice team
to develop the strategic direction, business model and operating
platform for the AllianceTexas Mobility Innovation Zone. Through this
collaboration, AllianceTexas will lead the nation in smart
infrastructure and serve as a convening place for stakeholders
throughout the innovation lifecycle.
“Deloitte’s work with Hillwood to develop a transportation innovation
sandbox underlies our commitment to convening an ecosystem to build the
Future of Mobility at AllianceTexas,” said Scott Corwin, managing
director and Global Future of Mobility Practice Leader, Deloitte
Consulting LLP. “AllianceTexas offers a unique platform to test and
scale integrated mobility solutions – both on the surface and in the
air. Beyond our role in developing the initiative with Hillwood,
Deloitte professionals will have exposure to this effort, since our
national leadership center – Deloitte University, where we grow the
world’s best leaders and incubate idea generation and breakthrough
thinking – is located at AllianceTexas.”
Home to the Federal Aviation Administration’s Southwest Regional
Headquarters, AllianceTexas offers a fully integrated testbed unlike
anything else in the country with direct access to the aforementioned
inland port anchors (listed in the opening paragraph), as well as a
FedEx Ground Sort Hub, two UPS Sort Hubs, major corporate anchors
including Fidelity Investments and Charles Schwab, and over 162 miles of
major arterial, state and federal highway systems. By providing the
infrastructure for multi-modal transportation, AllianceTexas is
positioned to support the testing of innovative aerial and surface
technologies to move both freight and people within a self-contained
environment.
“Creating the Mobility Innovation Zone is the next step in the natural
evolution of AllianceTexas,” said Mike Berry, president of Hillwood.
“With a solid transportation foundation already in place and our
knowledge of new technologies being developed for the future of
mobility, AllianceTexas is the perfect location for the first fully
integrated mobility testbed. Our team is proactively working with
customers and regulatory agencies to form strategic coalitions to lead
the nation in smart infrastructure deployment.”
Among its 500+ corporate residents, AllianceTexas has attracted some of
the world’s most globally recognized transportation and logistics
brands, all of whom are exploring new technologies for freight mobility.
Initially, AllianceTexas will foster innovation across the supply chain
from the intermodal hub to distribution centers and finally end-users,
ultimately driving the automation process. Using the existing
infrastructure at AllianceTexas, each of these movements can be tested
and eventually integrated using autonomous vehicles and technologies.
At the forefront of mobility innovation, Hillwood has partnered with
several entities on other transportation options. Most notably, Hillwood
is currently developing the North Texas infrastructure platform for Uber
Elevate’s Skyports. Construction has already begun on the first Skyport
in North Texas located at Hillwood’s Frisco Station, a 242-acre
mixed-use development in Frisco, Texas, with plans to incorporate
AllianceTexas into the system of Skyports in Dallas-Fort Worth. By
launching the Skyport infrastructure platform, Frisco Station and
AllianceTexas will serve as testing grounds for the future of aviation
mobility technologies and set the standards needed for new airspace
regulations.
“We are proud of the relationship we’ve built with Hillwood and all the
unprecedented opportunities that come from working with a leading
developer with like-minded views,” said Wyatt Smith, Head of Business
Development for Elevate at Uber. “At more than 26,000 acres, including
direct access to Fort Worth Alliance Airport and the region’s vast array
of airports and transportation hubs, AllianceTexas offers a big canvas
to develop, test, and refine our advanced mobility technologies to
create next-generation transportation options for the growing population
of Dallas-Fort Worth.”
The technology platforms being integrated at AllianceTexas will enable
innovative transportation solutions to develop stronger, faster, more
reliable connections among devices and applications. Hillwood has been a
national pioneer in bringing the latest mobility technologies to the
general public, leading an initiative to create a collaborative
partnership to tackle mobility challenges and improve connectivity in
and around Frisco’s North Platinum Corridor, which led to the launch of
the first pilot program in Texas to have on-demand, self-driving cars on
public roads.
Investing in robust technology, Hillwood is working with AT&T to
replicate its current 5G Evolution model being used at Hillwood’s Frisco
Station development into the AllianceTexas platform, which will include
adding wireless stealth micro cells, ultra-fast internet infrastructure,
and robust Wi-Fi throughout the development. In addition to its existing
relationships with leaders in innovative mobility, Hillwood is also
working with regulatory agencies to strengthen the evolution of
transportation both on the surface and in air space. This collaborative
approach will help define smart roadway infrastructure standards, enable
autonomous vehicle movements on state and local roadways, and create
industry standards for drones (UAVs) and vertical take-off and landing
(VTOLs) aircraft to operate in an urban airspace environment.
Initially, two primary use cases are being developed for the launch of
the Mobility Innovation Zone. A surface freight mobility program for
IoT-enabled shipping containers to move within the AllianceTexas
platform via autonomous trucks along a “smart road system” will allow
retailers, consumer goods companies and other corporate partners to
increase their supply chain efficiency. The second use case is centered
around the establishment of an aerial proving ground that will allow
drone and VTOL use case applications to be tested and ultimately
integrated into the National Airspace System (NAS). Both use cases are
designed to be scalable for maximum impact.
“Given the unique opportunity Hillwood has enjoyed over the last 30
years in developing transportation focused real estate projects in the
Dallas-Fort Worth region, and working with global leaders in
transportation and logistics such as BNSF Railway, FedEx, UPS, Amazon,
Uber, Bell, and many others, we believe the time is now to establish
AllianceTexas, and ultimately the Dallas-Fort Worth region, as the
Center of Innovation for The Future of Mobility,” added Berry.
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About AllianceTexas
Celebrating its 30th anniversary in 2019, AllianceTexas is an
unparalleled regional success story that has transformed the North Texas
economy and connected the area to global industry. Anchored by Fort
Worth Alliance Airport, the world’s first dedicated industrial airport,
and led by Hillwood’s development of 26,000 acres, AllianceTexas is home
to over 500 companies which have built more than 45 million square feet
and created over 61,000 jobs, its estimated cumulative impact since 1989
is more than $76 billion for North Texas. The Alliance region hosts one
of the nation’s premier intermodal hubs and has expanded far beyond its
industrial roots to include corporate headquarters, healthcare
providers, higher education centers, shopping and entertainment
destinations, and vibrant residential communities. From the newest
homeowner to the most well-known of Fortune 500 companies, opportunity
thrives at AllianceTexas. For additional information, please visit www.alliancetexas.com.
About Hillwood
Hillwood, a Perot company, is a premier industrial, commercial and
residential real estate developer and manager with projects throughout
North America and Europe. With a diverse portfolio of properties which
have become home to many of the world’s leading companies, Hillwood is
committed to bringing long-term value to our customers and partners and
the communities in which we serve. Hillwood also served as the lead
developer of marquee projects nationwide, from the Air Force Memorial in
Washington, D.C. to the Perot Museum of Nature and Science and the
American Airlines Center in Dallas. For additional information, please
visit www.hillwood.com.
About Uber Elevate
Elevate is Uber’s air mobility business unit, focused on deploying
aerial ridesharing services within cities on the Uber platform in the
near future. Elevate’s Uber Air product aims to launch commercially in
2023 with intra-city operations in Dallas-Fort Worth/Frisco Texas and
Los Angeles. To advance towards this goal, Uber is partnering with
several highly experienced aircraft manufacturers including: Aurora
Flight Sciences (now a subsidiary of Boeing), Bell, Embraer, Pipistrel,
and Karem Aircraft. Uber has also entered into a real estate partnership
with Hillwood Properties to develop aviation infrastructure. Uber has
signed two Space Act Agreements with NASA, one for the development of
new Unmanned Traffic Management concepts and Unmanned Aerial Systems and
a second to explore new concepts and technologies for Urban Air
Mobility. Uber has also signed a Cooperative Research and Development
Agreement with the U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering
Command, Army Research Lab to assist in the vehicle development and
testing for Uber Air. This includes an initial joint work statement to
provide joint funding of $1 million for research development of rotor
technology.
Media-ready images of AllianceTexas are available here.
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