When news about self-driving cars spreads, Tesla and Google are usually at the forefront, especially Google as of late, as it has been road testing several of its autonomous vehicles as previously reported by HNGN. General Motors, however, made quite a splash when it announced Thursday that it could deploy a fleet of self-driving cars on its Michigan campus next year.
The car manufacturer specifically identified the late fall of 2016 as the date when several of its 2017 Chevrolet Volts will debut as the shuttle service for its employees working at the Warren Technical Center. The cars will be driving themselves using a technology that uses a dedicated app for passengers.
This is surprising for many observers in the auto industry because, unlike Google or Tesla, General Motors has not publicized its self-driving technology initiative.
"The program will serve as a rapid-development laboratory to provide data and lessons to accelerate the company's technical capabilities in autonomous vehicles," General Motors said in a press statement.
General Motors employees will be able to reserve a Chevy Volt and select a destination. The carmaker's autonomous technology, which has been under development since 2012, will power the vehicle to pick-up the passenger, shuttle him/her to the destination, and park the vehicle afterwards.
It is interesting to note that the electric car's predecessor, the 2016 Chevy Volt, is yet to roll out of General Motor's assembly plants. It will hit dealerships soon, but first-drive reviews indicate it is not an electric car, or even a hybrid model.
However, there are traces of high technology that could offer a glimpse of the 2017 electric variant. This includes the system that provides warning alerts for blind spots, rear cross traffic, lane departure, and forward collision, according to Popular Science. It will also include automatic braking and parking assist functionalities.
Another highly autonomous car that could be released for consumers in 2016 is the 2017 Cadillac CT6, according to The Verge.
