Alphabet’s self-driving subsidiary Waymo said on Monday it will produce fully autonomous Jaguar I-PACE and Zeekr vehicles at a newly built factory in Mesa, Arizona, beginning later this year. The move is part of a multi-million-dollar collaboration with Canadian auto parts supplier Magna International and is aimed at significantly scaling the company’s Waymo One ride-hailing service.
The 239,000-square-foot Mesa facility will serve as the production hub for integrating Waymo’s self-driving technology — known as the Waymo Driver — into vehicles built on multiple platforms. “The Waymo Driver integration plant in Mesa is the epicenter of our future growth plans,” said Ryan McNamara, vice president of operations at Waymo. “This factory is a multi-million dollar investment and has created hundreds of jobs in Mesa, AZ that support our future growth plans.”
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Waymo said it plans to build more than 2,000 autonomous Jaguar I-PACE vehicles through next year and begin integration of its technology into Zeekr’s RT model later in 2024. The plant, designed with automation and scalability in mind, will also support future vehicle platforms, allowing the company to accelerate its production-to-service timeline.
Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs welcomed the announcement, calling the new factory “the latest example of Arizona being the new home for technology to innovate and grow.” She added, “I’m proud to see autonomous vehicles on our streets every day, helping get people where they need to be safely. The new manufacturing facility will enhance this presence, and the local jobs it’s creating will help Arizona’s tech economy continue to rise on the world stage.”
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Waymo has steadily expanded in a challenging autonomous vehicle sector, launching its fully driverless Waymo One ride-hailing service in cities including San Francisco, Phoenix, Los Angeles, and Austin. The company said it is currently providing more than 250,000 paid trips weekly and has completed over 4 million paid rides in 2024 alone. It plans to expand to Atlanta and Miami, with Washington, D.C. to follow by 2026.
