Cruise Automation recently announced Cruise Origin, a fully autonomous robotic taxi. The General Motors subsidiary has been hard at work developing Origin as GM’s first truly driverless car, and now, we have our first official details. The question is – are you now more confident in Cruise’s efforts to bring a fully autonomous vehicle to market?
In case you’re out of the loop, General Motors has invested heavily into Cruise Automation with the intention of creating a fleet of all-electric driverless cars. The autonomous vehicles will be used as “robot taxis,” ferrying passengers to and fro, all without a human pilot.
Cruise’s recent announcement included details on the look and design of the new driverless car, as well as a few photographs of what it looks like. With exterior sizing akin to a traditional crossover, Origin has a boxy body and two-tone color, with ingress and egress enabled via two sliding doors that part down the center.
The interior is spacious, with two bench seats in place for passengers, plus screens mounted to the ceiling that relay info to those on board, such as the trip itinerary.
Indeed, General Motors has invested quite a bit of money into Cruise Automation to help make Origin a reality. Back in 2018, GM earmarked $1 billion for the company, and is now spending $300 million per quarter (or $1.2 billion per year) to bring the driverless car technology and robotic taxi to market.
Prior to the announcement of Origin, the idea of a completely autonomous taxi service was little more than an interesting idea. Now, however, it looks like Origin is primed to actually become a reality.
The question is, does the announcement make you, the reader, any more confident about the idea? Is this a solid product, or do you have your doubts?
Let us know by voting in the poll below, and make sure to voice your opinion by posting in the comments. And don’t forget to subscribe to GM Authority for ongoing GM news coverage.
Comments
This is the same question asked 120 years ago about the “Auto-Mobile” replacing the Horse.
The same fears folks had when riding in an elevator for the first time (…that’s why they had Operators – like Ship’s Captains – to give the sense someone is actually in control.)
IMHO, this same reluctance will give way to folks understanding / accepting how it helps their lives…maybe not for everyone, but it’ll be big in certain areas of the County and the World.
Exciting times we live in.
Maybe for enclosed environments like Disneyland or NYC where owning a car is impossible but I don’t see these being very reliable or popular in many other parts of the world where people want independence.
I fully agree, trust, and have confident in these vehicles if they are planned for low speed city traffic, since none of the seats have airbags,perhaps only side curtain bags. I lived in NYC and my family never needed cars, since we traveled on foot, buses, subways, and occasional taxi. If this helps reduce city pollution, then it should be mandated.
Not confident about anything GM is doing…
Glad I’m 62 miles away from the city they are bound to run over someone or something before they get to me.
Many problems still to be solved before autonomous vehicles are put in common use. Overcoming the issues of how to guide them when snow or heavy rain obscures lane lines and curbs, and how to make the vehicle able to differentiate between a pedestrian and, say, a plastic grocery bag blowing across the street in front of it will require a big leap in technology.
Who would be the purchasers? some newly form taxi companies. I do not see the need for individuals to purchase the auto. So the big question, can GM sell enough of them to be profitable. GM needs to sell tens of thousands each year to earn a profit. Until GM can scale it up GM will suffer losses for a number of years. It is going to be interesting, hope GM can pull it off.
GMs policy on automobiles is if it don’t sell a100K they pull the plug and down the drain it goes, that’s what happened the Camaro for several years. Only the uproar by Camaro owners brought it back. I don’t think there’s going to be that big of a demand unless taxi companies buy them to get rid of cabdrivers and dispatchers.
Uber will buy them and cut out the drivers they have today
History repeating itself? From the outside design to how you sit, they should have named it Stagecoach!
I have full confidence in Cruise and therefore GM.
Autonomous vehicles are the inevitable so why would I not have confidence in them?
nobody has made a convincing argument why AVs would save people time and money.
That’s because they are an answer to a question nobody asked. It is simply being done to try and get the Millennial’s attention and to say “look mommy no hands on the wheel”. Otherwise it is a pointless needless waste of valuable time, money and resources that could instead be used to fix real existing problems like poverty, overpopulation, hunger, food shortages, horrible diseases etc. But then these items don’t make big profits so who cares right?
@steve
Well if you live in a Big City it will in theory save you a lot of time and money.
Think of how much time people in those cities spend just looking for Parking. And the main reason why Autonomous will save time is that once every car is Autonomous, cars will be driven much, much closer to each other than humans can. There will be almost no Traffic.
Obviously this is fact only if you are a believer in the Technology. If you don’t believe AV’s will be possible you feel like this is a waste of money. But I personally doubt that companies would be spending Billions upon Billions for no reason.
In cities, and during times when weather will not interfere with the auto system, I think these could be a hit. Places like LA, San Francisco, New York, Portland (Oregon), Seattle, Washington D.C., etc. will make this enough of a hit to be worthy of the investment. Will it see day light in rural Missouri or Kansas, maybe not, but that’s ok, because GM is building a portfolio for both the rural communities (trucks & crossovers), and cities (automated electric cars & crossovers). Of all the companies, I think they have the best plan by concentrating on large money making trucks and crossovers for the rural parts of the country, luxury vehicles (crossovers and cars) for all parts of the country, and electric vehicles including the Cruise Origin for large cities. Dropping products that are dropping in sales and have limited profit was a smart move for the long term health of the company.
What will they do when New York is buried under 13 inches of snow. Also who is going to pay for all the reflective paint the cities will have to repaint the lines and crosswalks, of course the tax payer, oh I forgot, that’s all FREE.
There is much that has to happen and go right.
If all goes well and this proves it’s self to the public it will find a place for those who have a use for it mostly in cities.
Now if they plow into a bicycle killing the rider or one drives into a situation where passengers are hurt or killed it will be set back a bit fairly or not.
This kind of tech with the public is under a microscope with the average person and the media.
You know the old if it bleeds it leads. There is little room for error here. While you can program these vehicles to for all sorts of things you can never count out something being missed or an outside factor as some idiot in another vehicle doing something that will make this car react in a way the computer has to chose.
The one case i have seen presented. The vehicle has to chose from hitting a child in the road or to go over a cliff with two passengers. The programmer gets the choice here not the passengers or the kid. Or if it had a driver was there a third option that increased the odds unseen to the programmer?
What if it is flooding? How deep is the water? The Car will not know but the driver may be able to tell based on the surroundings?
Snow drifts?
The greatest challenge is speed. You are I5 in Orange County where going 95 MPH at high traffic times is common. Will the vehicle just be programmed to do the speed limit? If it keeps with traffic and you are pulled over who pays the ticket?
Still a lot to consider.
There has already been at least one reported fatality involving a driverless vehicle and a pedestrian. Additionally, some Tesla test vehicles, although not autonomous, have been involved in several fatalities.
Not even remotely interested in job killing AI tech.I will never let a self driven car drive me around,not going to happen.I don’t want to end up like the 6 or so dead people who drove Teslas that drove right into tractor trailers.I guess programming tractor trailers into the system wasn’t necessary.Plus that lady in Tempe was run over by an AI car.No thanks.Wow.
@Josh
If we live long enough the Government will forbid us from driving most likely. That is how effective AV’s will be. Some will hate it and some will love it. The World is changing not just in the Auto Sector.
A Tesla on Autopilot statistically is 6 times safer on the Highway than a Human. Some can fight the Data all they want but it is coming rather we like it or not. Too much money to be had.
Ahhh humans,never satisfied or content with having what we need, always wanting more.When the terminators show up and skynet takes over just remember that we were doing fine with just us and didn’t need synthetic forms of life.Also before that most jobs will be lost to AI and a crashed economy where nobody has any money.People will be starving,etc.All because of laziness and greed.
as someone who rode to work in a car pool and there was always someone who was late and we had to wait. how is this going to be handled with this service ?
Those things will run on a schedule just like a bus or train or someone will be pissed.
Why is it painted so it looks like it has a blanket draped over the roof?
It may be the future for the millenial crowd but, for now, I’m going to
stick with my horse!
i think the designers call it a floating roof. i can think of at least one other thing that floats. in fact, i saw it this morning.
The short answer: NO!
I would never place myself or my children in anything as such. Above, I’ve read numerous comments about snow causing issues and those comments are very correct. However, I live in southern California where we don’t need to worry much about snow/ice. I also sell Volvo and Mazda. I can’t begin to tell you how many times I’ve experienced a Mazda with a warning light about a malfunctioning system or a Volvo alert constantly going off warning of something in front or beside you when there is nothing even close! These systems can be and often are fooled by bugs, dirt/dust, moisture and even just the sun. Yes, the sun! You just have to love when a customer comes in for service super angry because their brand new Volvo/Mazda just slammed on the brakes going down the street for no reason. Lights come on and they are not happy (for good reason). All that just because a bug or dirt or the sun “fooled” the sensor.
On the bright side, all these people who just have to have those huge screens in front of their face can now use them while riding in the self driving box! haha.
I’m as confident as when I made my gender decision.
i like the pic of the occupants.
you’ve got 50-50 split of male/female. all major races are included.
the white guy looks nerdy and slightly effeminate so lgbt is covered.
the black guy is doing his best not to scare the other passengers. he looks friendly and you wouldn’t be surprised if he went to a better university than you did. i’m surprised they didn’t make him older to cover the mature age demographic.
the latina woman is proud of her heritage and will expertly tell you off in spanish if you step out of line.
the asian girl is eager to tell you about china and the best dim-sum restaurant in town.
and some people say gm marketing is second rate.
Very insiteful observations.
I think why there is no seniors represented is because
no one in that age group would consider risking their
lives in one of those contraptions.
ok boomer
@Bobert
Quick question. Do you fly in airplanes?
OK, OK, you guys.
Take a breath.
You obviously didn’t spot the tongue in my cheek!
after owning five GM product since 1982 to Camaros at Jimmy Safari van another Jimmy I worked as a service advisor for them I will never buy a GM product again.if you do make sure you just leased one so it’s under warranty except for gas and tires
I am 78 and have driven over a million miles ,owned over 100 vehicles but only have ridden in a cab 6 times. Hope they aren’t counting on me.
I’m confidant that people are going to be drunk and getting busy in the back on their way home from the bar at three AM.
Can I get a what what?
I can totally see a bunch of graffiti spray painted all over these things, lol Also, how hard would it be to block a street with an empty trash can etc. to get them to stop, then rob the occupants?
Not saying this is a bad idea just thinking about unintended consequences.
Even with a driver the street could be blocked to get you to stop.
the world is Not ready for these vehicles…God forbid A.I. becomes a reality..Terminator, judgement Day comes to mind..In So. Cal. driving the freeways at the speed limit (slower than traffic) can cause road rage. Everybody speeds here, I read a study about traffic, if 1 car drives the speed limit on a freeway, it causes major traffic hazards as other drivers try to get around the slow moving car, imagine many slow moving taxis clogging the lanes…MAD MAX road rage time. So. Cal. i
has a car owning/driving mentality, we do not consider driving as a privilege but more of a life or death right. And until we change our beliefs of driving privileges this won’t have a chance in hell of working here.
And who is the target market for buying the taxis, Lyft, Uber & taxi companies?? GM will loose big time on this bad idea. Fine with me, let their stock go back down to 25 cents..I’ll buy a boat load of stock, the govmnt will rescue them..Again! How about GM concentrate on the here and now and GET BACK TO WORK and build my 2020 C8 order!! Why on earth they continued to build C7’s after the strike was beyond stupid, nobody wants the Fred Flinstone corvette!!