Anyone living in San Francisco knows that the city has been a testing ground for hundreds of self-driving cars – and there is probably a good reason why. In light of a series of incidents, including a pedestrian who was seriously injured by a Cruise robotaxi last year, California law enforcement has its hands tied when it comes to issuing moving violations when no human is behind the wheel.
The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has officially changed a long-standing rule that is now creating a path for automakers to deliver self-driving vehicles without steering wheels or pedals.
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In a Tweet earlier today, autonomous rideshare company Cruise, announced it has secured a multi-year credit line of $5 billion from GM financial, to help purchase thousands of Origin vehicles. This new credit line will give Cruise $10 billion in total capital to help roll out its autonomous Origin vehicles manufactured by GM.
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Autonomous rideshare rivals Waymo and Cruise have both reportedly applied for permits to charge passengers for self-driving rides in the San Francisco Bay area. Some of the applications are still under review, but it could be a major step toward autonomous rideshare vehicles operating as commonplace soon.
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Self-driving startup Voyage announced it has been acquired by Cruise, a larger autonomous driving company. The California-based company previously made breakthroughs in self-driving technologies by transporting senior citizens around their communities. Voyage looks to pair its previous research with Cruise’s substantial resources to expand self-driving services to all.
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GM announced that Cruise, its self-driving startup, has raised a new $2 billion financing round led by Microsoft.
The software giant is putting some skin in the self-driving game.
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It’s been nearly two years since GM provided images of a next-generation Bolt EV that lacks a steering wheel or pedals. All of a sudden, in the past couple weeks, top GM execs have been talking up its electric hatch as a self-driving platform. Now Reuters reports that CEO Mary Barra met last week with US Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao to discuss getting those robo-Bolts on the road.
Cruise Automation announced today it’s secured a new $1.15 billion in funding, the latest in a long line of large investments into GM’s self-driving division.
After testing their all-electric and autonomous Chevy Bolt EV prototypes in California, Michigan, and Arizona, GM’s Cruise Automation vehicles are going to New York City to further test their system in a difficult traffic environment.
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As part of its effort to bring self-driving vehicles to market, GM has claimed today that their autonomous driving division has produced “the first real self-driving car (really).”
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GM’s autonomous driving division, Cruise Automation, announced the launch of the beta version of its autonomous ride-sharing app currently being used by employees in San Francisco, where they operate a fleet of autonomous Chevy Bolt EV test vehicles.
The new service is called ‘Cruise Anywhere’ and the company claims that it is already becoming the primary mode of transport for some of its employees.
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Earlier this year, GM announced that it is growing its fleet of autonomous Chevy Bolt EV prototypes for its ‘GM Cruise’ startup.
Now the automaker announced the completion of the first batch of 130 prototypes at its Orion Assembly Plant located in Orion Township, Michigan.
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Cruise Automation, GM’s startup working on self-driving technology, has been releasing videos of its Bolt EV prototypes driving autonomously around San Francisco in order to show its progress.
The latest one released today shows the vehicle at night, which can create different driving conditions – like encounters with nocturnal creatures.
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As we often like to highlight when talking about self-driving development programs, data can make all the difference. And the best way to accumulate a lot of data is through large test fleets. While Tesla went the way of adding sensors to all its production vehicles to gather data, most other automakers and tech companies are doing it through captive test fleets, which all vary in sizes.
GM could be about to get the largest of those fleets by increasing their number of test vehicles, Chevy Bolt EVs with Cruise Automation’s sensor suite, from just 50 to 300.
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Last year, GM stepped into the autonomous driving scene by acquiring Cruise Automation, a startup with Tesla Autopilot engineering talent and founded by Twitch co-founder. It enabled GM to tap into the software talent in California to build its future self-driving technology.
Now GM announces that it plans to add 1,100 jobs in California through Cruise in order to expand its self-driving effort. The move is likely to make the hiring scene for autonomous driving even more competitive for companies than it already is…
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GM confirmed today that it is acquiring the self-driving car startup Cruise Automation for an undisclosed amount. The company was founded in 2013 by Kyle Vogt who is best known for being one of the co-founder of the streaming website Twitch.
Cruise’s goal was to build self-driving technology that works on your existing car, which took the form of the sensor package RP-1 prototype (see picture above and video below).
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