Waymo to open its own self-driving car factory

Waymo, the Google subsidiary for self-driving technology, has signed a lease for a factory in Detroit where it will retrofit its self-driving systems onto vehicles manufactured by FCA and Jaguar.

The company will invest $13.6 million to adapt the plant to its needs. Once operational, Waymo will collaborate with engineers from Canada’s Magna International.

In the new factory, Waymo will produce level 4 autonomous vehicles (read our story about Tesla’s self-driving plans for more information about the AV levels).

The operation should be up and running by mid-2019 to install self-driving systems onto Chrysler Pacifica minivans. Later, the same will be done with Jaguar I-Pace SUVs.

Both vehicles will be used for Waymo One, the commercial ridehailing service Waymo launched in December 2018.