General Motors reveals a new personal self-driving electric concept car at the CES technology show. It will be part of the company’s luxury brand Cadillac, to be called as InnerSpace. The new concept was unveiled on Wednesday by CEO Mary Barra during a keynote address.
InnerSpace is part of Cadillac’s Halo Concept Portfolio that debuted in 2020 along with a shared autonomous shuttle and an urban air mobility vehicle. While addressing the keynote, the CEO Mary Barra also revealed GM and its majority-owned subsidiary Cruise plan that will offer a personal autonomous electric vehicle to customers. They plan to launch it into the market by mid-decade. She said that she believed they could offer personal autonomous vehicles to various people, from individuals to fleet operators or ride-hailing service companies.
Barra said, “In pursuing multiple paths simultaneously, GM and Cruise are gaining significant technological expertise and experience, and we are working to be the fastest to market with a retail personal autonomous vehicle. In fact, we aim to deliver our first personal autonomous vehicles as soon as the middle of this decade.”
GM cruise developments
Considering GM Cruise developments, the revealed concept in the autonomous car segment seems aggressive. General Motors Cruise initially planned to commercial self-driving cars by 2019. But things got delayed as further testing and developments were required. On Wednesday Barra also talked about Cruise developments, saying that they expect to commercialize Cruise in coming months.
In November last year, GM applied for permission to commercialize their self-driving technology. They applied to the California Public Utilities Commission, which is part of the last six permits that are needed to operate commercially in California. It was not clear whether the company will get the permit. However, GM claims that their technology is ready to be launched into the market. As they have already launched their vehicles in San Francisco with certain limitations.
As many companies are working on self-driving technology, it is far more complex to get permits and other requirements to launch into the market. Especially, when one incident could possibly lead to negative publicity and ultimately result in questioning the regulators. Commercializing autonomous technology is different. Once the Cruise gets approved, it could be possible for the automaker to work on the personalized autonomous vehicle concept. More autonomous fleets are expected to enter the market by various companies. General Motors certainly seems to be going ahead with futuristic advancements.
