General Motors has announced that it’s joining the race to develop autonomous vehicles, and will “aggressively” pursue plans to build a driverless car.
The company, which owns Vauxhall, Chevrolet and various other marques, has been relatively quiet regarding driverless technology where others like Tesla, Google and Audi have made big promises.
However, GM is no stranger to autonomous technology, having started exploring it almost a decade ago in conjunction with DARPA, and now it wants to capitalise on that work with a new venture.
First on the auto giant’s list is to develop “Super Cruise”, a semi-autonomous feature that will let cars equipped with it drive with no human input, similar to Tesla’s new Autopilot function.
The feature is expected to appear on an unspecified Cadillac model next year, but it’s likely to trickle down into the rest of General Motors’ range, including Vauxhalls, soon after.
In addition to the “Super Cruise” feature, the company also wants to deploy a fleet of robotic driverless vehicles at the Warren Technical Centre to test their autonomous capabilities.
The centre, located in suburban Detroit, covers an area of roughly a square mile and features junctions, roundabouts, pedestrians and cyclists to truly give the cars a run for their money.
As well as moving ahead with driverless technology, GM says that it’s also going to start developing a new lithium-ion battery system to power upcoming electric and hybrid vehicles across its range.
The first car to get the new upgraded system, which General Motors says will boost range to upwards of 200 miles, will be the Chevrolet Bolt, an electric crossover MPV due to arrive in 2016.
GM hasn’t revealed any of its grander plans beyond that, and it’s unsure when technology beyond Super Cruise will enter the market, but CEO Mary Barra said: “We’re gonna move aggressively.”
