Amazon-owned autonomous taxi company Zoox has opened a new production facility in Hayward, which is already employing around 100 technicians, and the City of Hayward is quite happy to welcome them.

Zoox, if you haven't heard, is building the first "purpose-built robotaxis," meaning that instead of passenger vehicles with steering wheels and driver's seats that are retrofitted, like Waymo's autonomous Jaguar taxis, these are vehicles with only passenger seats and no steering wheel, meant only to be taxis.

These funny-looking — some may say cute — robo-vans began testing on San Francisco's streets last fall, but confined only to the SoMa neighborhood. And now as they prepare to grow the business, Zoox is building more of these things in Hayward, with plans to roll out passenger service in SF and Vegas later this year.

"We’re growing in size, scale, and impact!" the company said in a statement. "We’re excited to announce the opening of our serial production facility in the San Francisco Bay Area, the very first purpose-built robotaxi assembly facility in the United States. "

As ABC 7 reports, the new facility expects to have the capaciy to build 10,000 robotaxis a years.

As the Chronicle reports, while Zoox has had a smaller production facility in Fremont, the new 22,000-square-foot Hayward factory will fulfill multiple functions, including robotaxi engineering and testing, parts storage, shipping, hardware, and software integration.

The vehicles are made out of modified Toyota Highlander bodies, reportedly, and the company has ultimate plans to build multiple fleets to provide taxi service in Austin and Miami as well.

Lucy Lopez, CEO and president of the Hayward Chamber of Commerce, tells ABC 7 that Hayward is very glad to have Amazon/Zoox setting up camp in the city.

"State colleges as well as community college, there are so many students that are so thirsty for opportunity like this in their own backyard," Lopez tells the station. "So we are thrilled to have Zoox here in Hayward investing in our community."

And Hayward Chief Economic Development Officer Paul Nguyen says in a statement that the new Zoox factory is "an indicator of the city's broader industrial transformation from a regional logistics hub to a destination for advanced manufacturing, innovation, and clean technology."

Previously: Zoox to Begin Testing Their Funny Looking Robotaxis In SoMa