General Motor’s Cruise unit to double headcount

General Motors’s self-driving car subsidiary, Cruise, stated it prepares to hire 1,000 more people during the next nine months, as the No.1 U.S. carmaker aims to launch a robotaxi service by the end of this year.

“We have plans to double in size by the end of this year,” Cruise spokesman Ray Wert informed Reuters.

Wert stated the majority of those employed will be engineers but didn’t provide a particular number. The company presently employs over 1,000 people.

The unit’s human resources division will be led by Dropbox Inc’s Arden Hoffman.

Cruise, appraised at about $14.6 billion, also prepares to triple its office space in San Francisco.