GM’s first autonomous shuttles from its Cruise subsidiary will be ready for the streets in January 2023.
The large bread loaf-shaped vehicles dubbed the Origin will comprise a fleet of robo taxis, but the technology will spill over to personal vehicles by the middle of the decade, said company CEO Mary Barra during an appearance at Axios’ What’s Next Summit.
She noted the company is pushing toward getting self-driving technology into people’s everyday vehicles, but the progress is coming in steps. She noted Super Cruise, which came out a few years ago was the first step in the process. Ultra Cruise set to arrive next year is the next step in the evolution.
The biggest issue getting the technology to the point where the vehicle is responsible for the driving.
“We believe as early as mid-decade we’ll have personal autonomous vehicles available that will cross that line where the vehicle is now responsible for the operation.”
Won’t be for everyone
Much like the introduction of Super Cruise, the self-driving technology will be available first on GM’s pricier models.
“That technology is expensive. We already have a lot of work going on at Cruise to get the cost of the technology down,” Barra said. “So as the capability of the vehicle goes up, the cost will come down. But it will start as a relatively higher-priced vehicle until we get the technology down.”
