Google spin-off Waymo to open ‘world’s first Level 4 AV’ factory in Michigan

Waymo, the company that began as Google’s driverless car project, has pledged to open a facility in Michigan, US, to produce advanced autonomous vehicles (AVs). In a statement, Waymo insisted: “This will be the world’s first factory 100% dedicated to the mass production of Level 4 AVs.” Level 4 automation means that no human interaction is required, and the vehicle is able to adjust in the case of things going wrong – but there is an option for manual override. This is still some way from Level 5, in
January 28, 2019 Read time: 2 mins
8621 Waymo, the company that began as Google’s driverless car project, has pledged to open a facility in Michigan, US, to produce advanced autonomous vehicles (AVs).


In a statement, Waymo insisted: “This will be the world’s first factory 100% dedicated to the mass production of Level 4 AVs.”

Level 4 automation means that no human interaction is required, and the vehicle is able to adjust in the case of things going wrong – but there is an option for manual override. This is still some way from Level 5, in which the driver is theoretically eliminated from the equation altogether.

Interestingly, Waymo says in its announcement that one of the state’s attractions are “excellent snowy conditions for our cars to test”.

Waymo is based in Mountain View, California, but currently has an operation Novi, Michigan, which employs around 20 people.

The company will use its new site to integrate its self-driving systems into the vehicles in its fleet, which currently include Fiat Chrysler and Jaguar Land Rover.

Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) says the move is expected to generate total private investment of $13.6 million and create 100 jobs - with the potential for up to 400 jobs. MEDC is offering a “performance-based grant” of up to $8 million.

However, timelines are vague, with Waymo saying it first has to choose a site and will then “over the next few years, aim to create hundreds of local jobs in the community”.

Waymo “plans to locate into a ready-to-go, light manufacturing facility space at a yet-to-be-determined location in south-east Michigan”, the MEDC statement suggests.

Networking & Communication Systems

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • EdgeVis removes bandwidth barriers to mobile streamed video
    October 26, 2017
    A new generation of video compression can lower transmission costs of data and make streaming from mobile and body-worn cameras a reality, as Colin Sowman discovers. Bandwidth limitations have long been the bottleneck restricting the expanded use of video streaming for ITS, monitoring and surveillance purposes. Recent years have seen this countered to some degree by the introduction of ‘edge processing’ whereby ANPR, incident detection and other image processing is moved into (or close to) the camera, so
    Read More
  • Research shows increase in AV motion sickness
    November 11, 2019
    Passengers are suffering from queasiness in highly autonomous vehicles (AVs), according to academic research.
    Read More
  • The free and open internet is dead
    June 25, 2018
    A key US vote may have changed what internet service providers are allowed to charge and how they restrict content: Joe Dysart explains why this has consequences for ITS companies. While most people were rushing around last December, grabbing last-minute gifts for the holidays, the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted to drive a stake into the heart of the free and open internet. In a majority vote, the agency killed ‘net neutrality’ - a policy that has prevented your regional internet service
    Read More
  • Dutch strike public/private balance to introduce C-ITS services
    November 15, 2017
    Connected-ITS applications are due to appear on a nation-wide scale this summer, through the Netherlands’ Talking Traffic Partnership – if all goes to plan. Jon Masters reports. The Netherlands’ Talking Traffic Partnership (TTP) looks almost too good to be true: an artificial market set up and supported by national, regional and local government to accelerate deployment of Connected ITS (C-ITS) applications. If it does have any serious flaws, these are going to become apparent quite soon, because the first
    Read More

Highlighted Content