General Motors announced on Thursday a major expansion of its self-driving operations in Silicon Valley.

The automaker intends to hire 1,100 people and double the research and development space available for its self-driving subsidiary, Cruise Automation.

See Also: Automotive 2.0: The new road ahead to autonomous vehicles

GM has, in collaboration with Cruise, been testing 50 Chevrolet Bolt cars in San Francisco, Arizona, and Detroit for over a year. Rumors suggest GM will heavily expand the amount of self-driving vehicles on the road next year, to potentially number in the thousands.

“As autonomous car technology matures, our company’s talent needs will continue to increase,” said Cruise Automation’s CEO, Kyle Vogt. “Accessing the world-class talent pool that the San Francisco Bay Area offers is one of the many reasons we plan to grow our presence in the state.”

GM following Ford?

The expansion comes a few weeks after Ford, its main competitor in the U.S., announced a $1 billion investment in Argo AI, to be sent over the next five years. The investment gives Ford access to a talent-filled startup working on all sorts of autonomous technology.

General Motors has not set a clear roadmap for its self-driving program, unlike Ford, which wants to have a fully driverless vehicle on the road by 2021. Both automakers are likely to launch ride-sharing services for the self-driving cars, GM may use Lyft as the default service.

Other competitors, including Waymo and Tesla, want to see self-driving cars on the road earlier, but lack the manufacturing (Waymo) and distribution (Tesla) prowess of GM and Ford.

We all love Tesla here at Techaeris, and are excited to see the new and amazing things that they’re doing with electric vehicles. The public really only gets to see a very small piece of the whole puzzle though, and what goes on behind the curtain isn’t always going to be as rosy and polished as the Model S sitting on the pedestal out front. Employees at Grohmann Engineering — a German engineering company recently purchased by the company — are threatening to strike on grounds that Tesla is paying them significantly less than they should.

Grohmann Engineering was purchased by Tesla in November 2016 as a way to help automate processes at its factories and speed up production. The move was seen as a key to launching the Model 3, Tesla’s first car aimed at the general consumer. Employees at Grohmann have complained that since Tesla took over, they’ve been paid 30% below their appropriate union wages. Tesla, in a statement to Business Insider, refutes that claim:

We continue to work directly with Tesla Grohmann employees and are prepared in the event there is an action initiated by the union. We don’t anticipate any impact on the Model 3 timeline.

Delays would be nothing new for the company, as both of their current major models have seen delays. The Model S had a brief delay at the end of 2010 into mid-2011, while the Model X was famously delayed multiple times over a period of three years. The company has rightfully been trying to smooth out processes to make things easier for the Model 3 since the more affordable car has already received completely ridiculous pre-order numbers.

The labor threats in Germany are also a bit too close to the norm too it seems. Factory workers in Tesla’s Fremont, CA, location have looked to form a union after “excessive mandatory overtime” and difficult working conditions.

What do you think about these labor troubles Elon Musk’s company is facing? Let us know in the comments below or on Google+, Twitter, or Facebook.

  Source: Business Insider