The French company Valeo is planning to open a new centre aimed at developing driverless car technology in Prague this coming December. The move will make the Czech capital one of the leading centres in the world in the growing field of autonomous cars, Radio Praha writes, referring to the newspaper Lidove noviny.

Valeo’s centre in the city’s Hostivař district will cover 9,000 square metres, with over a third of that area given over to state of the art laboratories focused on systems aimed at helping or completely replacing drivers, as well as allowing for communication between vehicles and surrounding infrastructure, the newspaper said. The French firm already has approximately 3,000 employees in the Czech Republic and will hire over 600 more for the new development centre, a Valeo representative told Lidové noviny.

Read more details here (in English).

Also, the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Ministry of Education officially supported the project of the centre for the development of new motors for GE Aviation in the Czech Republic.