GM to Deliver Autonomous Ride-Sharing Service to ‘Multiple Cities’ by 2019
GM Chairman and CEO Mary Barra said Michigan provides the ideal location for testing the autonomous Bolt’s winter driving abilities
Photo: © General Motors
When it comes to autonomous-driving cars, General Motors is more ahead of the game than many other automakers. While others like Ford are just announcing partnerships to start bringing self-driving cars to the road, GM has already had self-driving Bolts humming around the streets of San Francisco, Phoenix, and other cities for some time.
Soon after announcing a future rollout of autonomous Bolts to New York City, General Motors has laid out its plan for autonomous ride-sharing to investors, and while only general details are available at the moment, we have learned some interesting tidbits about GM’s plans.
First, GM is aiming to launch a fully-autonomous ride-sharing service by 2019 in “multiple cities”—this, despite small setbacks like that one self-driving Bolt getting stymied by a taco truck in San Francisco with a journalist in the back seat.
This, in the timelines of how quickly automaker usually move, is surprisingly soon, but GM President Dan Ammann seemed confident, adding that with GM’s vertically-integrated infrastructure for making self-driving cars, the General is able to move much faster than others in this area.
Interestingly, also according to Ammann, when the driverless ride-sharing service is launched, the goal is for the cars to be fully driverless—“We need to take the driver out of the car in order to make the impact we want to make,” he said.
Apparently, the most likely location for launching this service first is in San Francisco, where the self-driving Bolts already have a lot of experience.
News Source: Jalopnik
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