Google's Chris Urmson (R) shows a Google self-driving car to U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx (L) and Google Chairman Eric Schmidt (C) at the Google headquarters on February 2, 2015 in Mountain View, California. (Photo : Getty Images/Justin Sullivan)
Google has just announced that they will be opening a new office in Detroit to recruit new talents who know about automobiles. The new facility will be used for research and development to work with their partners that are based there locally.
According to the official blog of Google's Self-Driving Car, the internet company has confirmed that in Novi, Michigan, they are opening a new research and development center. The new building will be located just about 30 miles northwest of Detroit. It will also be a 35-minute drive from the Chrysler Fiat's HQ located in Auburn Hills.
The internet company said their blog that their partners on vehicle research and development are based there, and it would be wise to put an office nearby. The 53,000 square foot development center will help them collaborate more easily and access the local top talent when it comes to development and engineering with vehicles.
With the help of the local talents, the internet company is hoping to manufacture the best quality vehicles soon. One of the first tasks that they will be ready for is their self-driving hybrid minivans called the Chrysler Pacifica.
According to Gizmodo, the internet company is not necessarily into all types of vehicles, but they have given clues that they are more into the actual manufacturing process of minivans. The location of their research and development center is near the location of Mcity, which is the testing site for vehicles that are driven autonomously.
The internet company said that they will be moving into their new facility throughout the year, but they confessed that they still have a lot to do. The new facility is still bare and empty of equipment, and they are expecting to have it completed within this year.
Since the facility is nearby other automakers in Detroit, it is possible that the internet company wants partnership with more companies, aside from Chrysler. Since a strategic partnership with a tech company is a good option for automakers recently, this new move by Google might give better results in the future. The internet company has also reported that they have 23 Lexus vehicles and 34 prototypes functional on the road.
Check out the Ready for the Road video below:
