Waymo, the self-driving division of Google’s parent company Alphabet, has today announced that it’s planning to build self-driving cars in Michigan. The company and Magna are going to set up a factory in southeast Michigan where self-driving cars will be built. The models will include autonomous versions of the Jaguar I-PACE and the Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid minivan.
Waymo confirmed today that the Michigan Economic Development Corporation has approved its plan to set up a factory in the state where self-driving cars will be built. An $8 million grant has also been approved for this project.
The self-driving company is evidently scaling up its commercial operations. It has already launched its autonomous taxi service called Waymo One last month. It’s in a limited launch right now but the service will be expanded to more people this year and the safety drivers behind the wheel will eventually be removed.
It obviously requires vehicles to run this taxi service and that’s why it needs to get things moving quickly on the plant. The two companies are looking to move into the facility by mid-2019 which will be completely dedicated to building Level 4 autonomous vehicles that can handle all driving under certain conditions. Waymo says that the factory is going to create 400 new jobs in the area.