Yesterday, General Motors had an investor meeting in San Francisco to discuss the future of its self-driving car business and we have a more solid timeline as to when it will deploy self-driving cars.
The Associated Press reported Friday that GM will begin launching self-driving cars in dense urban areas sometime in 2019. Specifically, the automaker said the self-driving cars will carry passengers and deliver goods and it will take steps to come first to market ahead of rivals. In other words, GM won’t sell self-driving cars directly to consumers, but instead, operate a network of them.
A lot will happen in the next year and a half to usher in self-driving cars so quickly. GM will begin testing its autonomous vehicles in Manhatten next year, which will represent a different challenge for the technology with regards to precipitation and temperature.
GM President Dan Ammann added the self-driving cars will absolutely tackle ride sharing first, though it’s unclear if GM will pursue a service through Lyft, which it invested $500 million into, or through Maven. GM has dropped multiple hints suggesting it will launch a ride-sharing business through Maven. Despite the big news, investors didn’t rally around GM stock, which fell 1.8 percent.
Comment
If the Cruise Bolt EV is available as a Maven rental someday, I will take it and see how it drives.