LANSING, Mich. -- Google is the latest autonomous vehicle producer to announce plans to locate in Michigan as the company will build a light manufacturing facility in the state. The announcement came during a Michigan Economic and Development Corporation meeting where the state also announced it has pledged a grant of up to $8 million to support the project.

Waymo -- the subsidiary created by Google for its autonomous vehicle unit -- currently employees about 20 people at an office in Novi, but will expand to hire approximately 100 people for the facility, with the potential to create 400 jobs in the area. Waymo will now look for a production site in Southeast Michigan so that it can ramp up production of the vehicle.

“The jobs, both direct and indirect, created by these companies will further expand Michigan’s high-tech, R&D and engineering footprint today and position us for future growth," said Jeff Mason, CEO of the MEDC.

“With recent announcements like @KLATencorcorp, @Samsung, and @Waymo today, we continue to see increased interest in #SiliconValley companies looking to relocate or expand into Michigan.” - Jeff Mason, CEO of MEDC — MI Econ Dev Corp. (@MEDC) January 22, 2019

Waymo also weighted in on the plans for the facility going forward.

“We’ll be looking for engineers, operations experts, and fleet coordinators to join our team and help assemble and deploy our self-driving cars. This will be the world’s first factory 100%-dedicated to the mass production of L4 autonomous vehicles,” Waymo wrote in a blog post.

The company says it’s already working to outfit Chrysler Pacifica hybrid minivans with the Waymo technology so it can continue to test the hardware and software for a fully autonomous vehicle. Waymo said Michigan is great choice because the snowy conditions provide excellent conditions for the cars to test in.