General Motors has announced that Cruise AV will be built at its Orion Township assembly plant in Michigan. Roof modules for GM’s self-driving vehicles will be assembled at its Brownstown plant.

Cruise AV is GM’s first indigenously-built production-ready vehicle that could operate safely on its own with no driver, steering wheel, pedals or manual controls.

According to GM President Dan Ammann, teams at Orion and Brownstown are well-prepared to produce the Cruise AV as they have already built self-driving test vehicles and battery packs. GM will invest more than $100 million (Rs 64.8 crore) to upgrade both facilities. Roof module production has already begun and production of the fourth generation Cruise AV is expected to begin in 2019. According to GM, more than 200 vehicles have been assembled at Orion.

GM Cruise AV's roof rack

Workers at GM’s Brownstown Battery Assembly Plant will expand their capabilities by adding roof module production for all of Cruise’s self-driving vehicles. The roof modules integrate special equipment for AV operation such as LIDAR, cameras, sensors and other hardware, and will be assembled on a dedicated line at the facility. The Orion plant will continue to build the Chevrolet Bolt EV and Sonic as well as the Cruise AV.