GM Looking to Acquire New Companies in Effort to Enhance Development Speed of Self-Driving Tech
General Motors is on the hunt of acquisition opportunities in an effort to expand its autonomous vehicle operations, according to CEO Mary Barra and CFO Chuck Stevens.
Both high-ranking executives indicated that the automaker is looking to continue acquiring companies that may aid in its bid to bring self-driving technology to the masses within the next several years. General Motors last month acquired Strobe Inc., a Pasadena-based LiDAR sensor developer, to help improve the development efforts of its Cruise Automation unit.
Strobe’s new chip-scale LIDAR technology will significantly enhance the capabilities of our self-driving cars,” wrote Cruise CEO Kyle Vogt in a blog on Medium.com. “But perhaps more importantly, by collapsing the entire sensor down to a single chip, we’ll reduce the cost of each LIDAR on our self-driving cars by 99%.”
Both Barra and Stevens indicated that GM is not planning to stop at Strobe, Inc.
“This is fast-moving and we’re going to look at what makes the most sense to allow us to go with speed, with safety, and to deliver value,” said Barra.
“We have been actively looking at technology opportunities to enhance and speed the development, safely, of autonomous vehicles into the market,” said Stevens. “We believe that to be first at-scale—safely—the best approach to that is to continue the approach that we’ve taken by developing and integrating under one roof with Cruise Automation…and that’s the course that we’re taking for now.”
News Sources: Automotive News (subscription required), Medium
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