Chinese parts giant Foxconn will launch a second U.S. facility in Michigan that will focus on self-driving car development, the South China Morning Post reports. Foxconn founder Terry Gou said the advanced state of self-driving car development was part of the reason why the company made its move into Michigan. "Automotive development in the US is still more advanced than China," Gou said, according to the Post. Few details were available on the facility's cost, timeline to launch or exact scope. The news follows Foxconn's previous announcement that it was exploring making $10 billion in U.S. investments throughout the midwest.

Last year, GM bought Cruise Automation, a startup focused on self-driving car technology, and now it appears the automotive giant is getting serious about creating HD maps. Cruise Automation has just announced that it's recruiting a Head of Mapping, who will "own the strategy, planning, and execution of our specialized HD maps," according to the job posting. While GM might be the country's top auto manufacturer, it lags behind Google and other Silicon Valley companies when it comes to self-driving technology. Indeed, Google's self-driving project, called Waymo, has an upper hand on its rivals because of the company's robust maps. GM and other car companies are racing to keep up with the tech giant.

The race to bring self-driving cars to the road got uglier this week as the self-driving car company owned by Google parent Alphabet accused Uber of using stolen technology to speed up its autonomous car development. Waymo filed a lawsuit against Uber on Thursday accusing the ride-hailing company of stealing its trade secrets. "Competition in the self-driving space is a good thing; it pushes everyone to develop better, safer and more affordable technology. But we believe that competition should be fueled by innovation in the labs and on the roads, not through unlawful actions," the Waymo team said in a Medium post announcing the suit, which names both Uber and Otto, a startup owned by the ride-hailing company, as defendants. The lawsuit argues that former Waymo manager Anthony Levandowski took information when he left the company to co-found a venture that became Otto.

Clues that Apple [NSDQ:AAPL] might be developing self-driving car technology has emerged in a letter sent by the tech giant to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The letter, obtained by The Wall Street Journal, was sent by Apple's head of product integrity Steve Kenner and included feedback on proposed guidelines for self-driving cars. Specifically, there was a paragraph stating that Apple "is investing heavily in the study of machine learning and automation and is excited about the potential of automated systems in many areas, including transportation." There have been rumors of Apple developing self-driving car technology for years and until recently it was thought that Apple would use the technology for its own car. The thinking changed in October when reports emerged claiming Apple had abandoned plans to launch its own car and would instead focus on self-driving technology.

Velodyne, a Silicon Valley company that makes a critical component for self-driving cars, has raised 150 million from Ford Motor Company and Chinese search engine Baidu . A link has been sent to your friend's email address. Velodyne, a Silicon Valley company that makes a critical component for self-driving cars, has raised 150 million from Ford Motor Company and Chinese search engine Baidu .