Lear Targets Detroit Innovation

Southfield, Mich.-based Lear Corp. this week officially opened its new Innovation Center in Detroit.

Lear, which purchased the 129-year-old building a year ago, has converted the former cigar factory into a creative hub for designers and engineers to work on advanced development projects.

The 35,000-sq-ft, six-story building is expected to house as many as 125 people, split between Lear’s seating and e-business units. In addition, 10 interns each from the College for Creative Studies (seating) and Wayne State University’s engineering school (e-business) will be co-located with the teams.

The stylized, open layout—including reconfigurable work stations, graffiti murals, galleries, exposed beams, a rooftop garden and large windows overlooking parks and downtown Detroit—is designed to inspire workers and encourage greater collaboration. Lear’s origins can be traced back to Detroit with the formation of American Metal Products in 1917; current CEO Matt Simoncini is a native Detroiter and Wayne State graduate.

One of the initial programs the center is working on involves next-generation “intelligent” seating systems that automatically adjust a seat based on a person’s size and position to optimize comfort, support and safety. Biometric sensors also could be incorporated into future seats to measure an occupant’s physical characteristics and alert medical responders if needed. Other smart features under development include noise cancellation and integrated audio units for individual seats.

Lear says it’s developing such intelligent seat systems with several unnamed customers and expects to launch aspects of the technology in production vehicles within four years.

The center’s e-business team is working on electrified and autonomous vehicles as well as junction boxes and transponders for connected vehicles. Lear currently is pilot testing vehicle-to-infrastructure communication systems in Detroit and several other U.S. cities. The company also supplies roadside devices used at the University of Michigan’s MCity proving grounds for autonomous vehicles.

Lear’s other business units also will use the Detroit center to develop non-automotive products, including industrial lighting and sports apparel. The latter includes fabrics for athletic shoes and clothing.