Transforming the Future Requires Technology, Capability and Scale

Six months ago, we announced that GM would build its next-generation autonomous test vehicles at our Orion Assembly Plant in Michigan. Production of those vehicles began in January, making GM the first and – to this day – the only automotive company to assemble self-driving vehicles in a mass-production facility. This means we have the unique and necessary combination of technology, engineering and manufacturing ability to build autonomous vehicles at scale.

To date, we have completed production of 130 Chevrolet Bolt EVs equipped with our next generation self-driving technology. These vehicles will soon join the more-than-50 first-generation self-driving Bolt EVs we have already deployed in test fleets in San Francisco, Scottsdale, and Southeast Michigan.

New technologies and changing customer needs are helping us transform personal mobility and deliver transportation solutions that are safer, more sustainable and better than ever. We believe one of the best ways to deliver these solutions is through greater access to self-driving electric vehicles deployed in sharing networks.

To get to this future, we are pursuing both an evolutionary path – with technologies such as automatic emergency braking and Super Cruise – and a revolutionary path, and the clearest evidence are our Michigan-built self-driving Bolt EV test vehicles.

Last year, GM acquired Cruise Automation. Cruise is a leading Silicon Valley startup that specializes in developing the software that drives our autonomous vehicles. Cruise is moving fast, operating within GM like the startup company it is.

The array of equipment that Cruise uses on the Bolt EV – the LIDAR, cameras, sensors and other hardware – represents a substantial leap forward in autonomous technology and capability. It will provide GM engineers with more data and faster processing speeds to adapt and problem solve in real time.

Our approach over the last year has been to test in challenging, urban, real-world driving environments. These next-generation vehicles will allow us to increase that testing and really accelerate our development of safe, reliable, fully autonomous vehicles.

At GM, our highest priority is always safety, and of course that priority extends to our development and testing of these autonomous vehicles.

The expansion of our real-world test fleet will help ensure that our self-driving vehicles meet the same strict standards for safety and quality that we build into all our vehicles. This is vitally important, because we believe that autonomous vehicles will provide great benefits to society in terms of safety, convenience and quality of life.

The National Safety Council estimates as many as 40,000 people died in motor vehicles crashes in the U.S. last year, a six percent increase over 2015. We also know that more than 90 percent of crashes are attributable to human error, and that is something that autonomous vehicles have the potential to eliminate.

At the end of the day, we believe the societal benefits and business opportunities of autonomous vehicles will be significant… and we intend for GM to be a leader in their development and deployment. Today’s production milestone brings us one step closer to making our vision of personal mobility a reality.

If you’re interested in joining our autonomous technology team, please visit here.