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GM: fully self-driving Bolts in U.S. cities in 2019

7K views 13 replies 7 participants last post by  Steverino 
#1 ·
General Motors Co laid out its vision for self-driving vehicles on Thursday, telling investors it planned a commercial launch of fleets of fully autonomous robo-taxis in multiple dense urban environments in 2019.

“If we continue on our current rate of change we will be ready to deploy this technology, in large scale, in the most complex environments, in 2019,” GM President Dan Ammann said on a conference call.

He told investors the lifetime revenue generation of one of its self-driving cars could eventually be in the “several hundred thousands of dollars.” That compares with the $30,000 on average that GM collects today for one of its vehicles, mostly derived from the initial sale.

Are we talking level 5 autonomy? Fully self-driving seems to imply the answer is yes. As others have pointed out in other threds, GM's AV thrusts is all based on EV's, with the current implementation based on a Bolt derivative (40% different parts).

Now if this was Musk making the 2019 claim, I'd view it skeptically. As we have seen again and again, his claims are inspirational rather than something you can count on. GM on the other hand has a proven history of hitting it's dates. Of course, they have been saying, "quarters, not years" up until now. To me, from now until 2019 seems like years or at least more than one year. :)

Still, this is way sooner than the 2022-2025 I expected.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...ving-cars-in-u-s-cities-in-2019-idUSKBN1DU2H0
 
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#4 ·
Just don't put a taco truck in its way.
Safety is the number 1 criteria for the Bolt AV. Compare to the Tesla owner who was decapitated when "auto-pilot" drove him into a semi trailer crossing his path.
 
#7 · (Edited)
Legally, if a vehicle blocks the road, and passing is illegal or not safe (Unsafe Speed can be <1 mph if it is dangerous to proceed), you are required to sit there stopped forever until it is clear. Ask me how I know. A judge told me this in court as I lost. If a stoplight never changes for you, you must sit at the light until the cow come home, or you are breaking the law. If you leave the vehicle to push the WALK button, you are breaking 2 more laws.

Autonomy will never be legal if it's allowed to do risky driving to bypass obstacles.

Or you can just run into crap and hope you have good enough lawyers.

Much like airbags, Congress must exempt automakers from autonomy litigation. Airbags can kill you in a survivable accident, and it happens hundreds of times a year. In fact the NHTSA killed 290 people by outlawing 2 speed airbags due to bureaucratic delay. The high-speed-only deployment broke people's necks in otherwise survivable accidents.

As soon as AVs are given tort protection like airbags have, you will not be able to 'break the law' to go around obstacles.

EDIT - As I understand AP1/AP2 technology, a Tesla would slam into a parked catering truck.
 
#11 · (Edited)
Seriously Cruise is impressive. GM hasn't really done anything have they? GM bought the tech when they bought Cruise not long ago. Crazy because how big is GM and long has GM been working on it self driving but had to go buy it? :)

Now Cruise will give them taxi services but it doesn't seem like they are going to give this to customers to own.

Anyway, obviously Tesla is Level 2 (and some 3) and the human is responsible for any accidents or deaths. Tesla's system is stupendous for commuting on highways and traffic jams (auto stop and auto go from a stop) and for USA highway roadtrips.

 
#12 ·
Seriously Cruise is impressive. GM hasn't really done anything have they? GM bought the tech when they bought Cruise not long ago. Crazy because how big is GM and long has GM been working on it self driving but had to go buy it? :)

Now Cruise will give them taxi services but it doesn't seem like they are going to give this to customers to own.
Where to begin with this? GM has been acquiring and selling companies since inception.

Mergers & Acquisitions

Cruise IS GM. I don't know why that should be an issue. It's also not the whole story on AV. GM also acquired Strobe, and is open to other acquisitions that they find helpful.

GM 'actively' seeking acquisition opportunities

Tesla has been acquiring companies too (Grohmann, Perbix, etc.). Should that be an issue?

Anyway, obviously Tesla is Level 2 (and some 3) and the human is responsible for any accidents or deaths. Tesla's system is stupendous for commuting on highways and traffic jams (auto stop and auto go from a stop) and for USA highway roadtrips.
It's not AV. Tesla has no autonomous vehicles on the road.
 
#13 ·
Gee...I guess GM acquired the CORRECT companies to do Autonomous Vehicles...:rolleyes:
 
#14 · (Edited)
This podcast is really interesting and sheds some light on GM's AV push, Cruise Automation, how AV fits into their truck sales and EV plans, EV "airplane" maintenance, ride sharing, safety vs. getting you there vs. rider experience, predictive modeling of the surrounding environment, pedestrian signaling, software and hardware parallel development, programming vs. deep (self-)learning, theoretical vs. applied engineering, simulators (including gaming), redundant systems, Bolt AV Gen 3 full self driving at scale, the 40! sensors on the car vs. the 19 on Tesla, 200MB/sec data stream, Cadillac SuperCruise semi-autonomous, 3cm city mapping and object labeling, rollout plans including charging infrastructure, Tesla self driving limits and concerns, city vs. highway, and more.

http://theteslashow.com/episodes/82-cruise

One thing seems clear, these will not be aimed at car buyers, they will be aimed at car transportation users.
 
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