General Motors Autonomous Vehicle Production Starts in 2019

Company invests $100 million in upgrading two plants in Michigan to prepare them for self-driving cars

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Mar 19, 2018
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General Motors (GM, Financial) recently announced its plans to invest $100 million to commence the production of its self-driving electric Chevy Bolts at its manufacturing facilities in Michigan. The autonomous car, which General Motors refers to as “Cruise AV,” will be the automaker’s first production-ready vehicle built from scratch to operate without steering wheel, pedals or any sort of manual control.

The company said that Cruise AV will enter mass production in 2019 at its Orion Assembly facility. The roof module will be arranged from a dedicated line in the Brownstown Battery Assembly plant. Both these facilities are in Michigan. The Detroit carmaker has been spending to build its autonomous technology. In 2016, it acquired Cruise Automation, a San Francisco-based startup which makes sensors for driverless technology. General Motors has been spending in purchasing young companies working in this niche area to build its autonomous technology.

Upgrading the facilities

General Motors is investing $100 million to upgrade its facilities so that it is ready to manufacture the commercialized version of its autonomous vehicle. Cruise AV would be General Motors’ first production-ready driverless vehicle. In a news release, President Dan Ammann said,

“We’re continuing to make great progress on our plans to commercialize in 2019…Our Orion and Brownstown teams have proven experience in building high-quality self-driving test vehicles and battery packs, so they are well-prepared to produce the Cruise AV.”

General Motors said that it has tested more than 200 vehicles, which were assembled at its Orion facility. Over the past year, nearly 6,000 workers at the Orion factory have assembled the autonomous Cruise, which have been tested in some of the most challenging urban environments, including San Francisco. The production of roof module is already in progress and fourth generation production of Cruise AV is scheduled to begin in 2019.

General Motors said it will continue to manufacture Chevrolet Bolt and Sonic at Orion. In fact, company chief executive Marry Barra said the company will boost the production of Bolt at this facility.

The news comes days after General Motors’ cross town rival Ford (F, Financial) announced its plan of a massive update on its product strategy. This is expected to include the Blue Oval’s plans for autonomous technology as well. General Motors’ has been putting in great effort to become a “full-stack” autonomous carmaker with the capacity to entirely manage the manufacturing and technology aspect of driverless vehicles. As such, the company acquired several technology start-ups such as Cruise Automation, LIDAR and Strobe. This has helped the automaker to accelerate the development of driverless technology.

Preparing for automation

In January, General Motors filed a petition pursuing the U.S. government’s authorization for full automation in cars so that the company can head for mass production in 2019. A fully automated car will not have steering wheel, brake and accelerator pedals. Launching the commercial car in 2019 could be a challenging task for General Motors, given the regulatory approval and highly busy urban streets.

General Motors said that the Cruise AV will not be distributed through dealership since its manufacture will be only restricted to commercial operation.

Disclosure: I do not hold any position in the stocks mentioned in this article.