At General Motors, it’s full speed ahead in the race towards commercializing the self-driving car. The automaker plans to make self-driving cars available in 2019, and it announced a $100 million investment for the Brownstown and Orion, Michigan, plants for self-driving car production.
Production is slated for 2019 and the car heading to assembly lines is the fourth-generation autonomous car, the Cruise AV. The car features no pedals, steering wheel or other driver controls. GM has previously petitioned the Department of Transportation to allow the car to test without the driver controls.
GM played up the fact that the Cruise AV will be the first production-ready vehicle built from the ground up to operate on its own. GM’s strategy has long been to integrate as much of the technology as possible in the production vehicle without retrofitting as some of its rivals do. The Cruise AV is based on the Chevrolet Bolt EV electric car.
“We’re continuing to make great progress on our plans to commercialize in 2019,” said GM President Dan Ammann. “Our Orion and Brownstown teams have proven experience in building high-quality self-driving test vehicles and battery packs, so they are well-prepared to produce the Cruise AV.”
The Brownstown plant will build the self-driving car’s roof modules, while Orion will handle Cruise AV production itself. The automaker also announced plans earlier this month to increase Bolt EV production at the facility.
Comments
In the mean time Ford is going to sale a million Broncos. Come on GM
Really now, a million?
Part of this makes me think its sarcasm…….but his crappy grammar makes me think he’s serious…..
Who cares about grammar on a site like this? I can’t wait to ride in one of these cars!
I really hate that GM is sinking this much money into self driving cars. Who is going to buy these cars? I assume they are destined for ride sharing fleets, but it just seems like a lot of upfront cost that has a questionable payback, and certainly none in the short term. I remember in the early 2000s GM was touting “gotta have” products, and now they don’t have anything mainstream that fits. Cruze SS, Malibu RS, AWD Impala are some easy ones, but also a Colorado based Blazer, Alpha based El Camino, Buick Avista, Omega based Avenir. C’mon, GM Build cool stuff again!
I for one will buy one the year they come out and I can use it as my own transportation
I really think that this is all coming a bit too early. The smart business move for GM, IMHO, would be to keep throwing money into the most profitable segments of the market, like trucks, SUVs and crossovers, especially trucks. Ford’s coming out with the Bronco and a smaller body-on-frame SUV, and Jeep is doing extremely well. Why focus on futuristic technology, and electric powertrains to an extent, this early, when the market is saturated with a desire for bigger, roomier SUVs and trucks? This looks like EV1 all over again, where it was too ahead of the times and had no early demand, which ended its young life. Hold off until the car-buying attitude shifts back from big, loaded crossovers and SUVs, and buyers are looking for alternatives, like electric, hydrogen and autonomous cars. Save the $100 mil, and put it into Cadillac crossovers and Chevy/GMC trucks and SUVs. The future is alternative fuels and autonomy; but we’re not there yet.
This from the people who complain that GM follows other manufactures and doesn’t lead! You people are never happy! GM focuses on current cars and trucks you find sdomething to complain about. GM invest in the future and you still find a reason to complain.
And you wonder why GM doesn’t pay attention to forums like this!
GM just keep moving forward with the future plans that you have!