The future is near with the new possibility of a car service that needs no driver. General Motors has announced that it will release a new car service, similar to Uber and Lyft, with an innovative twist: the cars within the service will need no driver. Making these self-driving cars a reality has been a race for quite a while now for car companies. Ford is in the works and has planned to release a self-driving car model by 2021. However, GM is currently winning the race after their announcement that this new revolutionary car service will be available in major cities by 2019.
GM’s goal is to have cars with “zero emissions, zero crashes and zero congestion” with their self-developed, self-driving cars. After the press release of their news in San Francisco, invited Journalists were able to test prototype vehicles that have been completely assembled by GM and that use their own ride-hailing service.The development of this new service is aiming to create vehicles that drive more safely than humans, all while also offering cheaper tariffs than the current competitors in the business such as Uber. GM’s President, Dan Ammann, said this will also be the best bet for your transportation needs because it will eliminate the awkward conversations with unknown people in your rides and the “creepy driver syndrome” that we are all familiar with.
It is possible that the competitor companies catch up to the efforts of GM, but the company seems to have the benefit and confidence of being in the car production market for over a century. It also has the advantage with the acquisition of the Cruise start up back in 2016, the latest prototype of self-driving car with cameras all over its exterior to help the car “see”. The company is also confident in the fact that the demand for the service will drive the market itself, as they plan to be the company with the most affordable rides, bringing down the average price of $3 per mile as low as $1 per mile in a few more years with more innovative technologies that will allow the cars to save battery. All of their vehicles offered for the service will be electric cars, making sure that the service is efficient and environment-friendly.
Ten years ago GM was at the verge of bankruptcy, very few would have thought that the company will be at the lead of such a revolutionary project. Despite its competition, GM believes that it will stay on the top with this new technology through their experience and market control. Their comprehensive program will be changing the world and the way we transport sooner than we know.
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Source: Fortune