Photo: Chevrolet
Make no mistake about it, the next big thing in the automotive industry is autonomous driving. And General Motors is a bit late to the party started by Tesla, Mercedes, Ford, and Nissan. Hence, GM knows it needs to kick development into overdrive.
To this end, GM announced that it will invest $14 million into the New Cruise Automation Development Facility. On top of that, the biggest U.S. carmaker is committed to hiring more than 1,100 new employees at its San Francisco-based facility over the course of the next five years (i.e. until 2022's end).
A part of the investment is meant for repurposing an existing location in San Francisco, which will more than double Cruise Automation’s research and development space. What’s more, California Governor Jerry Brown allocated $8 million in the form of tax credit for this expansion. Not bad considering General Motors acquired Cruise Automation in March 2016 to reinforce the American automaker’s development of self-driving vehicle technology.
Over 50 units of the Chevrolet Bolt, all fitted with autonomous driving technology, are currently being tested by GM and the peeps over at Cruise Automation. If you’re lucky, you’ll might spot one roaming around San Francisco (California), Scottsdale (Arizona), and Detroit (Michigan).
“Self-driving technology holds enormous benefits to society in the form of increased safety and access to transportation,” declared Mary Barra, head honcho of GM. “Running our autonomous vehicle program as a start-up is giving us the speed we need to continue to stay at the forefront of development of these technologies and the market applications."
A first step in bringing autonomous driving to the general public was made only recently, with the Cadillac CT6. For the model year 2018, the luxurious sedan is available with a feature called Super Cruise. Priced at $2,500, the optional extra uses precision LiDAR, sensors, GPS, and cameras to semi-autonomously drive the 2018 Cadillac CT6 on limited-access highways.
Regardless of how much money and how much talent an automaker is willing to utilize to make Level 5 autonomous vehicles happen, higher-ups in the industry are extremely reserved about timing. From Ford’s point of view, the first autonomous cars are estimated to hit the road in 2025, maybe later.
A part of the investment is meant for repurposing an existing location in San Francisco, which will more than double Cruise Automation’s research and development space. What’s more, California Governor Jerry Brown allocated $8 million in the form of tax credit for this expansion. Not bad considering General Motors acquired Cruise Automation in March 2016 to reinforce the American automaker’s development of self-driving vehicle technology.
Over 50 units of the Chevrolet Bolt, all fitted with autonomous driving technology, are currently being tested by GM and the peeps over at Cruise Automation. If you’re lucky, you’ll might spot one roaming around San Francisco (California), Scottsdale (Arizona), and Detroit (Michigan).
“Self-driving technology holds enormous benefits to society in the form of increased safety and access to transportation,” declared Mary Barra, head honcho of GM. “Running our autonomous vehicle program as a start-up is giving us the speed we need to continue to stay at the forefront of development of these technologies and the market applications."
A first step in bringing autonomous driving to the general public was made only recently, with the Cadillac CT6. For the model year 2018, the luxurious sedan is available with a feature called Super Cruise. Priced at $2,500, the optional extra uses precision LiDAR, sensors, GPS, and cameras to semi-autonomously drive the 2018 Cadillac CT6 on limited-access highways.
Regardless of how much money and how much talent an automaker is willing to utilize to make Level 5 autonomous vehicles happen, higher-ups in the industry are extremely reserved about timing. From Ford’s point of view, the first autonomous cars are estimated to hit the road in 2025, maybe later.
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