Daily US Times, San Fransisco: The self-driving car start-up Cruise unveils its first vehicle designed to be driverless. Majority of the start-up owned by General Motors.
The Cruise Origin, the vehicle’s name was developed by Honda, which also has a stake in the company. The vehicle has no steering or pedals. The launch had been delayed from last year.
Cruise said they designed the vehicle for shared ownership: “It’s not a product you buy, it’s an experience you share.”
The start-up’s chief executive Dan Ammann wants drivers to move away from individual ownership to a sharing model, to help reduce emissions, accidents, and congestion.
“It is self-driven. It is all electric. It is shared”, he said in the launching event in San Francisco.
The CEO did not reveal when the vehicle would go into production nor how many the company planned to build.
The self-driving car start-up’s first vehicle is not getting permission to drive on roads now. Before that, it will require extensive testing before this is granted.
Mr. Amman said ”Our work is far from done”.
This is not Cruise’s first attempt to driverless cars. The company has been testing modified Chevrolet Bolt electric cars with test drivers at the wheel for years.
Last year General Motors had aimed to launch a commercial, self-driving vehicle service in San Francisco but later canceled it saying the vehicles needed more testing.
The vehicle faced unexpected technical challenges due to difficulties in identifying whether objects were in motion.
Along with GM and Honda, Japan’s SoftBank’s Vision Fund has also invested in the company.
Honda has a 5.7% stake in Cruise for $2.75 billion (£2.1bn) in 2018.
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