Waymo’s new factory in Detroit to retrofit cars with self-driving hardware

Alphabet-owned self-driving company Waymo has selected an old factory in Detroit, Michigan to build its self-driving vehicle components.

Waymo is calling this building the worlds first factory that’s 100 percent dedicated to producing level 4 driverless vehicles. The company isn’t building this factory alone either. It’s partnering with American Axle & Manufacturing to repurpose an existing facility.

The self-driving company hasn’t shared many details of what exactly it’s building at the new location, but it will likely involve retrofitting vehicles with its self-driving hardware. Perhaps with a full factory workforce, it can better integrate its hardware into the vehicles it’s using.

The company mentioned in an earlier blog post that it in part chose Michigan so it can better test its autonomous vehicles in snowy conditions. Snow is one of the biggest hurdles for self-driving vehicles since it adds so much interference to all of the sensors the cars are using.

Source: Waymo