Google’s self-driving car spin-off Waymo LLC on Tuesday said that it would bring a factory to Michigan, creating up to 400 jobs at what it describes as the world’s first plant “100 percent” dedicated to the mass production of autonomous vehicles.
The company plans to spend about US$13.6 million to retrofit a to-be-determined manufacturing facility in the Detroit area. In exchange, it would receive a state incentive grant of up to US$8 million that was approved on Tuesday by the Michigan Strategic Fund Board.
Waymo plans to hire up to 400 people to work at the factory, including engineers, operations experts and fleet coordinators, company spokeswoman Alexis Georgeson said.
Photo: Reuters
It is looking for a site and hopes to open the plant in the middle of this year, she said.
A memo from Michigan Economic Development Corp said that Waymo would create 100 jobs, with the potential for up to 400, and it chose Michigan despite a “high level of interest” from states in the midwest, south and southwest.
The company integrates its self-driving system into vehicles it buys from automakers and is currently testing autonomous Chrysler Pacifica minivans in a preferred rider program for passengers in the Phoenix area, but with human backup drivers on board.
It plans to expand the service to the San Francisco area, but has not given a time frame.
Waymo previously announced plans to buy 62,000 Pacificas and 20,000 I-Pace electric SUVs from Jaguar.
Waymo, which employs 20 people at a facility in the Detroit suburb of Novi, where it tests vehicles in snowy weather, would put the new factory in Wayne, Oakland or Macomb counties, where the auto industry dominates the economy, with thousands of jobs from US and foreign-based automakers as well as parts supply companies.
“As we begin to commercialize our business and vehicle supply grows, we’re laying the foundation for a scalable, robust vehicle integration plan, starting in Michigan,” the company said in a blog.
Michigan Economic Development CEO Jeff Mason said that Silicon Valley companies are increasingly interested in relocating to or expanding in the state.
He cited KLA-Tencor Corp’s plan to open a US$70 million semiconductor research-and-development center in Ann Arbor and Samsung SDI Co’s plan to build a US$60 million-plus electric vehicle battery pack plant in Auburn Hills.
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