Since late 2016, General Motors (NYSE: GM) has dropped hints about its plans for driverless cars by releasing progress and investment reports. On November 29, 2017, General Motors finally demonstrated how far it has advanced by showcasing its 180-strong (and growing) fleet of computer-operated, battery-run prototypes, called Chevrolet Bolts.
G.M. created the vehicles through a subsidiary, Cruise Automation, which it acquired for $1 billion in 2016. The vehicles were displayed in San Francisco, where Cruise Automation is based, to investment analysts and journalists in the hopes of generating excitement about the project. San Francisco, a notoriously hilly, complex city, was the ideal environment for showing off the capabilities of the new models. G.M. has also said it will be testing its self-driving models on the crowded streets of lower Manhattan beginning in early 2018. Those who tested Bolts reported that the vehicles seemed safe, though they still need adjustments, as they are somewhat jerky and slow.
The most exciting part of the news is that the model may be available to the general public very soon - much sooner than many other companies developing similar self-driving vehicles. G.M. president Daniel Ammann has said he expects the Bolt to be ready for consumers in "quarters, not years."
This timing advantage could prove critical to G.M., which has suffered setbacks in recent years, including bankruptcy in 2009. G.M. has managed to turn itself around since then, posting strong earnings, though this comeback has been clouded by a faulty equipment scandal in 2014 responsible for 124 deaths.
"G.M. is a much more entrepreneurial company now than it's ever been," said David E. Cole, chairman emeritus of the Center for Automotive Research, and they are no longer "wedded to doing things the way they did in the past."
The race to bring an autonomous vehicle to market has rapidly intensified, with several companies vying for the billions of dollars in profit such models might yield by selling or leasing them to taxi, delivery, or ride-hailing companies. G.M. might launch its own driverless ride-hailing service, first beginning in major cities until it gains enough traction to expand elsewhere. Ammann has said that G.M.'s vision is of a world "with zero crashes, zero emissions, and zero congestion."
Competitors include automakers like Ford (NYSE: F), Volkswagen (ETR: VOW3), Toyota (NYSE: TM), as well as Silicon Valley tech giants like Google (NASDAQ: GOOGL), Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL), Uber, and Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA). While G.M. has demonstrated that it has changed, Wall Street is still cautious, concerned about commodity costs and automotive cycles. And many are still placing bets on tech as the likely winners of self-driving car race.