DETROIT: Ford Motor Co. announced that Google is joining the automaker’s effort to transform a once-dilapidated Detroit train station into a research hub focused on electric and self-driving vehicles.

Also, Detroit and the state of Michigan have agreed to provide infrastructure and other support for the Michigan Central Innovation District that will include the defunct train depot and other nearby buildings in the historic Corktown neighborhood just outside downtown, Ford said.

“The arrival of Google as a founding partner is exactly the kind of investment and progress I knew was possible to revitalize our hometown,” Ford Motor Co. Executive Chair Bill Ford said in a release. “And I could not be more pleased that the City of Detroit and the State of Michigan are also joining us in this ambitious effort.”

Ford announced plans for the Michigan Central Innovation District in 2018, shortly after it bought the 18-story, 500,000-square-foot (46,450-square-meter) train depot. Renovations at the more than century-old Michigan Central Station could be completed by next year, Ford Motor Co. Fund President Mary Culler told The Associated Press. Ford plans to research, test and launch new mobility solutions there.

The station, which looms over Corktown, has stood empty since the last train left in 1988 and came to symbolize Detroit’s long decline from America’s manufacturing powerhouse to its biggest municipal bankruptcy.

“Now, it’s the symbol of our city’s resurgence,” Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan said in a news release, “and soon will anchor this new innovation district, developed by Ford, where innovators from around the world will create the future of mobility.”

The state will provide more than $126 million worth of programming and resources, including infrastructure. The Dearborn, Michigan-based automaker said Duggan’s office is working to designate a Transportation Innovation Zone in the district, with the goal of making it easier for small businesses and entrepreneurs to safely start and test projects.