- The automated-car startup Cruise will reveal its first vehicle later today, and it will be a milestone in that it will need no driver on board, unnamed sources told Bloomberg and Automotive News.
- Cruise, a company that started as an automation R&D firm bankrolled by General Motors, is now calling itself “a self-driving car service designed for the cities we love.”
- The new vehicle will have no pedals or steering wheel and will be intended for ride sharing, according to the sources. Cruise is staging an event in California later today at which it’s expected to be unveiled.
Cruise LLC, the automation startup affiliated with General Motors, reportedly is about to unveil the first fully driverless vehicle—meaning one without steering wheel or pedals—at an event in California. That’s according to reports citing unnamed sources published by Automotive News and Bloomberg.
Cruise has done extensive R&D using the Chevrolet Bolt EV, but what this fully autonomous vehicle will look like is unknown. The CEO of Cruise, Dan Ammann, wrote on Medium in December that his company plans to launch a self-driving service, saying that it’s time our society moved past individual car ownership. In the blog post, titled “We Need to Move beyond the Car,” Ammann criticized automobiles in strong terms for using fossil fuels, causing urban congestion, and being dangerous. He said the rise of ride sharing—meaning services such as Uber and Lyft—”has added further congestion, more emissions, and potentially even decreased safety in our cities from overtired and overworked drivers” and is not the solution.
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The Cruise launch, therefore, is expected to feature something that looks more like public transit and less like a personal vehicle. Automotive News, citing unnamed sources, said it’s expected to be an electric vehicle that’s roomier than a traditional car and “passenger-friendly.” We’ll bring you full details when we have them.
Source: Motor - aranddriver.com
