The race to self-driving tech has had many ups and downs for all companies involved, but while many view Tesla as the trailblazer of the innovation, others are proving that they're not far behind. In fact, Honda has beaten Tesla to the first Level 3 autonomous car, while Volkswagen has also made advances in the field.
But now GM CEO Mary Barra says that the automaker's self-driving subsidiary, Cruise, will help GM sell personal autonomous vehicles by the end of the decade. The comments came during GM's Wednesday earnings call, and although no specifics were given, the vision for the future of the company looks bright.
"I've always said [that] we need to have kind of a revolutionary and an evolutionary strategy around driver assistance all the way to full Level 4, Level 5 autonomy", said Barra. GM has a controlling interest in Cruise, which is working on shared autonomous EVs that can operate in dense urban areas and can shuttle either people or packages. It is currently testing its tech on public roads in San Francisco but has yet to use its service commercially.
While this is happening, GM is further developing its hands-free driver-assist system, called Super Cruise. This tech will make its way to more vehicles in GM's product offering soon. And as it advances alongside Cruise, the possibility of the average American buying a fully autonomous car by 2030 is becoming more achievable.
Super Cruise was first launched in 2017 on the Cadillac CT6, but it has developed considerably since then. There's still much to do though, including making Super Cruise available on city streets and not just highways.
"Cruise is really focused on that full autonomy, but on Super Cruise we continue to add more and more features," Barra continued. "Our ultimate vision is that this system enables hands-free transportation in 95% of driving scenarios." So there's still lots of work to be done, sure, but the groundwork seems to laid. If GM can keep this momentum up, its goal of selling you an autonomous vehicle by 2030 may well be achieved.