No pedal to the metal in GM's planned self-driving
Cruise AV car
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[January 12, 2018]
By Nick Carey and Paul Lienert
DETROIT (Reuters) - General Motors Co is
seeking U.S. government approval for a fully autonomous car - one
without a steering wheel, brake pedal or accelerator pedal - to enter
the automaker's first commercial ride-sharing fleet in 2019, executives
said.
For passengers who cannot open doors, the Cruise AV - a rebranded
version of GM's Chevrolet Bolt EV - has even been designed to perform
that task. It will have other accommodations for hearing and visually
impaired customers.
This will be one of the first self-driving vehicles in commercial
passenger service and among the first to do away with manual controls
for steering, brakes and throttle. What is the driver's seat in the Bolt
EV will become the front left passenger seat in the Cruise AV, GM said.
Company President Dan Ammann told reporters GM had filed on Thursday for
government approval to deploy the "first production-ready vehicle
designed from the start without a steering wheel, pedals or other
unnecessary manual controls."
GM is part of a growing throng of vehicle manufacturers, technology
companies and tech startups seeking to develop so-called robo-taxis over
the next three years in North America, Europe and Asia. Most of those
companies have one or more partners.
Ford Motor Co <F.N> said on Tuesday it will partner with delivery
service Postmates Inc as the automaker starts testing ways to transport
people, food and packages this spring in its self-driving cars, which
are being developed by Ford's Argo unit.
Other companies, from Uber Technologies Inc [UBER.UL] to Alphabet Inc's
<GOOGL.O> Waymo, have been testing self-driving vehicle prototypes in
limited ride sharing applications, but have been less explicit than GM
in announcing plans for commercial robo-taxi services.
GM executives said the automaker has asked the National Highway Traffic
Safety Administration to allow 16 alterations to existing vehicle safety
rules - such as having an airbag in what would normally be the driver's
seat, but without a steering wheel - to enable the deployment of the
Cruise AV.
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GM's planned Cruise AV driverless car features no steering wheel or
pedals in a still image from video released January 12, 2018.
General Motors/Handout via REUTERS.
The automaker would then need to obtain similar approval from individual U.S.
states. GM executives said seven U.S. states already allow the alterations
sought by the automaker. In other states - including those that stipulate a car
must have a licensed human driver - GM will work with regulators to change or
get a waiver from existing rules.
The company declined to identify the first states in which it plans to launch
the vehicle or say when it would begin testing.
GM wants to control its own self-driving fleet partly because of the tremendous
revenue potential it sees in selling related services, from e-commerce to
infotainment, to consumers riding in those vehicles.
At a Nov. 30 briefing in San Francisco, GM's Ammann told investors the lifetime
revenue generation of one of its self-driving cars could eventually be "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.
GM's Cruise AV is equipped with the automaker's fourth-generation self-driving
software and hardware, including 21 radars, 16 cameras and five lidars - sensing
devices that use laser light to help autonomous cars "see" nearby objects and
obstacles.
The Cruise AV will be able to operate in hands-free mode only in premapped urban
areas.
GM's prototype self-driving vehicles have been developed in San Francisco by
Cruise Automation, the onetime startup that GM acquired in March 2016 for a
reported $1 billion.
(Reporting by Paul Lienert and Nick Carey in Detroit; Editing by Matthew Lewis)
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