GM announced that they will begin testing their autonomous vehicles on the roads of Michigan immediately after the signing of the SAVE Act legislation, which aims to support the development and deployment of self-driving cars in the state.
Testing has already started in GM’s Technical Center in Warren, Michigan, and once the SAVE Act legislation is passed, this will expand to the public roads around the facility.
The Orion Township assembly plant is going to build a test fleet Bolt EVs that are equipped with the autonomous technology that includes a LIDAR, cameras, sensors and other hardware necessary for the car to navigate on its own.
GM also plans to expand their self-driving program to metro Detroit, which will become their main location for the development of the technology in cold-weather climates.
Last January, GM created a dedicated engineering team to autonomous vehicles and invested $500 million in Lyft for the development of an integrated network of on-demand autonomous cars. In June, real-life testing of autonomous Chevrolet Bolt EVs began on the public roads of San Francisco and Scottsdale, with the two cities having more than 40 self-driving vehicles on their streets.
“Revolutionizing transportation for our customers while improving safety on roads is the goal of our autonomous vehicle technology, and today’s announcement gets us one step closer to making this vision a reality,” said General Motors Chairman and CEO Mary Barra. “Our autonomous technology will be reliable and safe, as customers have come to expect from any of our vehicles.”
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