Google Opens Self-Driving Car Development Center - In Detroit...

Sounds like they're getting serious about this auto thing...JL

Dustin Walsh reports in Crains:

"Many of our current partners are based here, so having a local facility will help us collaborate more easily and access Michigan's top talent in vehicle development and engineering." Google will work to further develop self-driving car technology at the center, starting first with the self-driving Chrysler Pacifica hybrid minivan.

John Krafcik, CEO of Google's self-driving car project, announced Wednesday the Silicon Valley tech firm would open a 53,000-square-foot development center in Novi.

Google has leased the building at 46555 Magellan Drive near I-96 and Beck Road, according to a source.

"Many of our current partners are based here, so having a local facility will help us collaborate more easily and access Michigan's top talent in vehicle development and engineering," Krafcik said in a post to Google+.

Crain's reported in February that Google was in the market for new high-tech space in the suburbs.

Google has more than 500 people working in other parts of its business in Ann Arbor and Birmingham. It would not say how many new jobs will be created at the new facility.

Google will work to further develop self-driving car technology at the center, starting first with the self-driving Chrysler Pacifica hybrid minivan.

Alphabet Inc., the parent company of Google, agreed to buy 100 plug-in hybrid minivans from FCA US LLC last month to expand its self-driving vehicle testing program.

The vehicles will not be offered for sale to the public. Unlike prior testing in which Google bought Toyota Motor Corp. vehicles from dealers and retrofitted them, the search engine giant will work with FCA directly on the test models.

Under the agreement, FCA will equip 100 of the Chrysler Pacifica minivans it launched in February with Google's self-driving technology.

Google engineers will begin moving into the building throughout 2016, Krafcik said.