<h2>What&#8217;s In a Name?</h2>
<p>Want to flex your creative muscles for a chance to win $10,000?</p>
<p>On Friday, <a href="https://media.gm.com/media/us/en/gm/news.detail.html/content/Pages/news/us/en/2018/nov/1102-ebike.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">General Motors (GM) unveiled</a> two new <a href="https://futurism.com/videos/tow-an-suv-with-this-incredible-electric-bike" target="_blank" rel="noopener">electric bike</a> designs it plans to begin selling in 2019, one compact and the other foldable. Each boasts a pair of wheels, a battery-powered motor, and a slew of safety features. What they don&#8217;t have, though, is a name — and that&#8217;s where you come in.</p>
<h2>Ten (eBike) Racks</h2>
<p>In the press release announcing the new eBikes, GM also launched a contest to name its eBike brand. The person who submits the winning name will receive a prize of $10,000, while nine runners-up will each receive $1,000.</p>
<p>If you&#8217;d like to get in on this naming contest, you have until November 26 at 10 a.m. EST to submit your suggestion via the <a href="https://ebikebrandchallenge.com/call-for-entries" target="_blank" rel="noopener">contest website</a>, which includes further details.</p>
<h2>Electric Love</h2>
<p>GM is far from the first major auto manufacturer to <a href="https://www.electricbike.com/auto/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">design an eBike</a>. However, it is rare to see the vehicles actually make it to market — after all, each eBike sold could translate to one fewer car sale.</p>
<p>Still, GM has claimed repeatedly that it is committed to <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/keeping-our-commitment-all-electric-future-mary-barra/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">electric vehicles</a>, and the eBike could be one more example of that commitment in action.</p>
<p>Other than the 2019 release date, the press release is pretty short on details. How far can these eBikes travel on a single charge? Will they be part of a bike-sharing network? Who knows?</p>
<p>But with $10,000 up for grabs, the question most people are probably pondering is, &#8220;What the heck should we call these things?&#8221;</p>
<p><strong>READ MORE:</strong> <a href="https://media.gm.com/media/us/en/gm/news.detail.html/content/Pages/news/us/en/2018/nov/1102-ebike.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">General Motors Is Building an eBike and Wants You to Name It</a> [General Motors]</p>
<p><em><strong>More on electric bikes: <a href="https://futurism.com/videos/tow-an-suv-with-this-incredible-electric-bike" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Tow an SUV With This Incredible Electric Bike</a></strong></em></p>


The automaker's branding team is sitting this one out.

General Motors Will Give You $10,000 to Name Its New eBike

It's Electric 

General Motors just launched a contest asking the public to name its newly unveiled eBikes, which it claims will go on sale in 2019.

Start racking your brain now.

<h2>No-Driving Experience</h2>
<p>Veteran automaker General Motors <a href="http://media.gm.com/media/us/en/gm/home.detail.html/content/Pages/news/us/en/2018/jan/0112-cruise-av.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">have asked federal transportation authorities</a> to allow changes in existing safety regulations so they could field an autonomous version of their Chevy Bolt, now called the Cruise AV, by 2019.</p>
<p>The reason for the Safety Petition? Well, if you&#8217;ve seen the Cruise AV, it&#8217;s not similar to <a href="http://media.gm.com/media/us/en/gm/home.detail.html/content/Pages/news/us/en/2018/jan/0112-cruise-av.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">other driverless cars</a> currently around. This one really doesn&#8217;t want you to drive it. The Cruise AV doesn&#8217;t have any steering wheel and pedals.</p>
<p>In light of this unusual design, GM has filed the Safety Petition to the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) on January 11, to allow for 16 changes to existing traffic safety rules, including having an airbag in place of where the steering should be.</p>
<p><iframe width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/MvP82IsGqNc?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p>The petition is for the “first production-ready vehicle designed from the start without a steering wheel, pedals or other unnecessary manual controls,&#8221; GM president Dan Ammann told reporters,<a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-gm-selfdriving/no-pedal-to-the-metal-in-gms-planned-self-driving-cruise-av-car-idUSKBN1F10DT" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> according to <i>Reuters</i></a>. Similar petitions would also be sent to local transportation authorities, but GM said that seven states already permit the changes they needed to test the Cruise AV. Still, for the Cruise AV, GM has to negotiate with states that explicitly require a licensed human driver behind the wheel.</p>
<h2>A Safe Autonomous Revolution</h2>
<p>Legislation to allow carmakers to test driverless vehicles on U.S. roads with less hassle — called <a href="https://futurism.com/a-unanimous-vote-just-approved-legislation-to-allow-self-driving-cars-in-the-u-s/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the SELF DRIVE act</a> — is still pending approval in the Senate, although it has already been passed by the House of Representatives.</p>
<p>Others <a href="https://futurism.com/google-ford-others-form-powerful-new-lobby-group-driverless-cars/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">question the relative ease</a> by which autonomous vehicles get fielded or tested. On the other hand, car makers point out that the <a href="https://futurism.com/make-driverless-cars-safe-pedestrians/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">strict safety standards</a> required to test these cars could delay progress in the field. While it might seem like GM is asking for a special treatment, they really aren&#8217;t, <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2018/1/12/16880978/gm-autonomous-car-2019-detroit-auto-show-2018" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Ammann told </a><i><a href="https://www.theverge.com/2018/1/12/16880978/gm-autonomous-car-2019-detroit-auto-show-2018" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Verge</a></i>. They simply want to &#8220;meet that standard in a different kind of way.&#8221;</p>
<p>Autonomous car manufacturers have been rather busy the past year with numerous tests of their driverless technologies. GM is among them, having received approval from New York state officials, as well as a public demonstration of the Cruise AV back on November 2017.</p>
<p>GM, which is the first company to mass produce autonomous vehicles, presumably in preparation for a 2019 test of their driverless fleet, has also been testing a ride-sharing app for their driverless cars.</p>


The car comes with no pedals or steering wheel, but it's equipped with airbags on the dashboard.

The driverless Chevy Bolt from GM won't let you drive at all

Advanced Transport

The new model comes with no steering wheel and no pedals. GM asked transportation authorities to allow changes in existing safety regulations to test it.

The Driverless Chevy Bolt From GM Won't Let You Drive at All

If all goes well, the fully autonomous car will be on the roads by 2019. 

The Driverless Chevy Bolt From GM Won’t Let You Drive at All

<p>In the race to build autonomous vehicles, General Motors is determined not to be left behind.</p>
<p>Last year, it <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/gm-is-buying-cruise-automation-and-taking-the-lead-on-driverless-cars-2016-3">bought Cruise Automation</a>, a startup based here, to jumpstart its self-driving car efforts. On Tuesday, GM demonstrated what it and Cruise have been working on, giving a select group of reporters a test drive in one of their autonomous vehicles.</p>
<p>&#8220;This is a big moment for me, personally, and for General Motors and for Cruise,&#8221; Kyle Vogt, Cruise&#8217;s CEO, said.</p>
<p>GM plans to mass produce its self-driving cars in a matter of &#8220;quarters, not years,&#8221; company president Dan Ammann said. He declined to specify when, exactly, the company plans to start selling them.</p>
<p>&#8220;Stay tuned,&#8221; he said.</p>
<p>In the meantime, Ammann, Vogt, and their colleagues were eager to show off their self-driving cars. Although GM and Cruise have been internally testing prototype vehicles for more than a year, this was the first time the companies had given members of the media or the general public a ride in them.</p>
<p>GM&#8217;s self-driving vehicles are basically modified versions of its Bolt electric vehicles. GM has added some 40 sensors to the vehicles, include an assortment of radar and lidar devices, as well as hundreds of pounds and several miles worth of cables.</p>
<p>The automotive giant has <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/general-motors-cruise-production-ready-2017-9">designed the vehicles to be mass produced</a> in its Orion, Michigan, factory. It&#8217;s already built 180 test vehicles.</p>
<p>GM and Cruise rolled out their first generation test vehicles only in May 2016. The version of the car GM and Cruise demonstrated on Tuesday is their second-generation test vehicle, which debuted this past June and includes a complete collection of sensors. They already have a third generation prototype in production; that vehicle, unlike its predecessor, includes redundant systems.</p>
<h2>GM&#8217;s autonomous car offered a safe — but not smooth — ride</h2>
<p>My ride got off to an inauspicious start. For the event, Cruise handed out iPhones that media members could use to summon one of their cars using the company&#8217;s app. That app, which works similarly to Uber or Lyft&#8217;s ride-haling apps, is actually the same one Cruise employees use to catch a ride with one of its cars. Only in our case, Cruise allowed us to choose from one of several pre-set destinations, rather than setting one on our own.</p>
<p>It took several minutes for my car to arrive in front of the Dogpatch Studio here, where GM was holding the event. But instead of stopping for me, the car drove right on by and returned back to the place it had been parked at before.</p>
<p>So, my Cruise helper summoned another car. That car too passed us by. But after traveling around several blocks, it came back to pick me up.</p>
<p>The car then proceeded to take us on a drive via city streets through the Portrero Hill neighborhood in the eastern part of this city. For about 20 minutes, we went up and down the area&#8217;s steep hills before returning to the studio.</p>
<p>Riding in the Cruise vehicle was a little more unnerving than <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/waymo-demos-autonomous-vehicles-at-california-testing-site-2017-10">my recent ride in one of Waymo&#8217;s latest self-driving cars</a>. Waymo&#8217;s demonstration was held at its testing facility in Central California, and even though its car had no driver and had to contend with people driving, walking, and biking, the ride felt staged and artificial.</p>
<p>In this demonstration, a Cruise employee sat behind the steering wheel, ready to take over if anything happened and another sat in the front passenger seat calling out potential obstacles and alerting the driver to the car&#8217;s upcoming path. Even so, this was a real-world test and felt like felt like it.</p>
<p>San Francisco is a notoriously difficult city to drive in, thanks to its steep, narrow streets, frequently heavy traffic, and often brazenly incautious bicyclists and pedestrians. Cruise&#8217;s car had to navigate around multiple double-parked trucks while contending with oncoming traffic, avoid pedestrians randomly crossing the street, be on the lookout for cars and bicycles as it crested hills, and negotiate four-way intersections where it sometimes encountered cars with impatient drivers.</p>
<p>The car made it through the course without incident — we never came close to an accident, and the Cruise employee behind the wheel never had to take manual control of the car. And that was impressive, far more so than Waymo&#8217;s car navigating through a staged course.</p>
<p>But Cruise clearly has some things to work on. The ride, while safe, was anything but smooth.  In fact, it often felt herky-jerky. We would accelerate as we turned a corner, slow down abruptly right after that, speed up soon after until we came close to the next intersection, then brake fairly suddenly at a stop sign.</p>
<h2>The car sometimes seemed hesitant</h2>
<p>And the car seemed overly cautious, even hesitant at times. In navigating around one double-parked truck, it slowly nudged out to peer around it, then slowly pulled around it in the oncoming lane. In the same situation, a human driver likely would have gone much more quickly in order to avoid any potential oncoming traffic.</p>
<figure style="width: 2000px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/5a1e01873dbef425008b8cb9-2000/img0877.jpg" alt="General Motors' second generation prototype self-driving vehicle, in which reporter Troy Wolverton got a test ride." width="2000" height="1377" /><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">General Motors&#8217; second generation prototype self-driving vehicle, in which I got my test ride. Troy Wolverton</figcaption></figure>
<p>Early on in my ride, the vehicle had to negotiate a particularly challenging stretch. In front of us was a double-parked truck. Just beyond that, on the other side of the street was another double-parked truck. In between and among the trucks were construction workers. And there were cars both behind us waiting for us to go and in front of us, heading the opposite direction.</p>
<p>The Cruise vehicle moved slowly and prudently into the oncoming lane. It nudged out just a bit to better see the traffic heading toward us. When things were clear, it pulled out. But then, while pointed in the wrong direction in the opposite lane, it just stopped. After waiting for two cars to go around the truck on their side and pass us going the other way, it finally went around the truck on our side and proceeded on.</p>
<p>Of course, a human driver might also have struggled with that scenario. But a human driver, even a cautious one, would likely have navigated around the obstacles more smoothly.</p>
<p>Right now, Cruise is far more focused on making its cars safe than worrying about how smoothly they drive, Cruise&#8217;s Vogt said. Not only is safety crucial for autonomous vehicles, but it&#8217;s a far harder problem to solve, he said.</p>
<p>Vogt expects Cruise to spend more time improving smoothness and polishing other aspects of the rider experience next year as the company nails down the safe driving aspect of the cars.</p>
<p>Making the cars drive more smoothly &#8220;Is the easiest part of the process,&#8221; he said.</p>
<h2>I could see more than the car&#8217;s screen showed</h2>
<p>Like Waymo&#8217;s autonomous cars, Cruise vehicles have screens on the backs of the driver and passenger seats that show in graphical form what the car &#8220;sees&#8221; around it. Other cars on the road show up as grayish blue boxes, people as blue cylinders.</p>
<figure style="width: 2000px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img src="http://static6.businessinsider.com/image/5a1e00ecf914c329008b6a2e-2000/gmcruise112817incartablet.png" alt="A screenshot from the screens inside GM's self-driving cars, showing what they see around them." width="2000" height="1501" /><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">A screenshot from the screens inside GM&#8217;s self-driving cars, showing what they see around them. General Motors/Cruise</figcaption></figure>
<p>Generally, whenever cars or people were close by, they showed up on the screen. You could see rows of boxes representing parked cars and cylinders crossing the street in tandem with the people they represented.</p>
<p>But sometimes the screen didn&#8217;t seem to register objects immediately. When we came to an intersection at the top of one hill, it took a while for the screen to show a car parked on the opposite corner, long after I saw it out the window.</p>
<p>More disconcertingly, sometimes the screen didn&#8217;t display some objects at all. As we approached one intersection, the screen registered the car coming up the street on our left. But it never showed the car coming up to the intersection from our left. Similarly, the pedestrians walking on the sidewalk that we passed never showed up on the screen, even though they were walking only a few feet away from the parked cars that were displayed.</p>
<p>Cruise&#8217;s cars can actually see a lot more than what they show on their screens, Vogt said. The company decided to limit what they display, because it found that when it showed more objects, riders found all the information &#8220;overwhelming,&#8221; he said.</p>
<h2>GM is focusing first on the ride-hailing market</h2>
<p>GM sees ride-hailing services as the initial market for these vehicles, Ammann said. The automotive giant is still working out the details of how it will approach that market. GM has invested some $500 million in Lyft, but Ammann said it wouldn&#8217;t necessarily partner with that company in all cases to offer ride-hailing services.</p>
<div style="width: 640px;" class="wp-video">
<video class="wp-video-shortcode" id="video-113132-1" width="640" height="358" preload="metadata" controls="controls"><source type="video/mp4" src="https://wp-assets.futurism.com/2017/11/5a1e03ef3dbef4ae448b884d-640-359.mp4?_=1" /><a href="https://wp-assets.futurism.com/2017/11/5a1e03ef3dbef4ae448b884d-640-359.mp4">https://wp-assets.futurism.com/2017/11/5a1e03ef3dbef4ae448b884d-640-359.mp4</a></video></div>
<p>In some cases, GM might offer automous ride-hailing services through partnerships; in others, it may offer them by itself, he said. Either way, GM plans to maintain control of the fleet of cars it deploys, he said.</p>
<p>The company&#8217;s focus on the ride-hailing market has played into the testing of its autonomous vehicles, Ammann said. It and Cruise are focusing on testing their cars in dense, busy cities in part because those are the biggest markets for ride-hailing services. The companies have already been <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/gm-cruise-automation-testing-self-driving-cars-san-francisco-2017-10">testing their cars in San Francisco</a> and plan to begin testing them in Manhattan in the first quarter.</p>
<p>GM is one of several major companies developing autonomous vehicles. Among the others are Uber and Google spinoff Waymo. Like GM, those companies see the ride-hailing industry as among the most promising early markets for such cars.</p>
<h2>Cruise and GM are concentrating on cities</h2>
<p>However, Cruise&#8217;s Vogt took pains to differentiate his company&#8217;s development effort from that of Waymo. Waymo has undertaken a years-long effort to create autonomous cars and has done much of its real-world testing either in suburban environments such as Mountain View, California, and Chandler, Arizona, or at its testing facility at a decommissioned Air Force base in California&#8217;s Central Valley. Collectively, its cars have driven some 4 million miles autonomously, the company announced on Monday.</p>
<p>By contrast, Cruise has gotten to the point it&#8217;s at in just 18 months, Vogt noted. And while it also tests its cars in suburban Phoenix, much of its real-world testing is being done in urban environments.</p>
<p>Vogt and other GM officials declined to say how many miles its cars have driven, but they argued that the city miles they&#8217;ve driven count for much more than the miles its competitors have logged in the suburbs. That&#8217;s because incidents such as having to make a left-hand turn or having to pull into the oncoming lane of traffic to route around a blocked lane occur much more frequently in cities than in the suburbs. In some cases such incidents occur more than 40 times more often in cities than in suburban areas, he said.</p>
<p>That difference &#8220;really puts into perspective … the value and challenge in operating in these urban environments,&#8221; Vogt said.</p>

The company expects to begin production "within quarters."

GM just gave the first public ride in its self-driving cars

GM's Cruise subsidiary has gotten off its first public demonstrations to a safe, albeit bumpy ride. The company expects to improve the user experience.

GM Just Gave the First Public Ride in Its Self-Driving Cars

Another company has entered the race.

<h2>Relinquishing the Driver&#8217;s Seat</h2>
<p>Saying that autonomous cars are slowly increasing in popularity is a bit of an understatement. An idea once relegated to works of sci-fi is slowing becoming a reality, and it&#8217;s seemingly only a matter of time before the majority of vehicles on our streets and highways are self-driving and we reach the end of the automotive era as we know it.</p>
<p>A glance at the companies investing in autonomous technologies should tell you everything you need to know about the tech&#8217;s expected impact — Tesla, Google, Lyft, Uber, <a href="https://futurism.com/gm-launches-new-ride-sharing-app-to-further-test-its-autonomous-cars/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">General Motors</a>, and Ford are just a handful of the many companies <a href="https://futurism.com/ford-and-lyft-announce-partnership-to-bring-self-driving-cars-to-the-masses/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">creating, testing, and deploying autonomous cars</a>.</p>
<p><iframe width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/8BRhxi0UiYc?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" gesture="media" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p>While figuring out how to sell self-driving cars to consumers might be a more near-term consideration for some of these companies, no doubt others see the possibility that we&#8217;re heading toward a future in which people no longer own cars at all or, at the very least, one in which owner-driven vehicles represent just a small <a href="https://futurism.com/experts-warn-that-autonomous-cars-could-make-us-reckless-drivers/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">minority of those on the road</a>.</p>
<p>Bob Lutz sees such a future on the horizon.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.cnbc.com/robert-a-lutz/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The former VP of General Motors</a> may have retired in 2010, but with 47 years&#8217; worth of experience, few know the automotive industry as well as he does, so when he says we&#8217;re approaching the end of the automotive era, it&#8217;s in every automaker and car owner&#8217;s best interest to pay attention.</p>
<p>&#8220;The auto industry is on an accelerating change curve,&#8221; Lutz wrote in <a href="http://www.autonews.com/article/20171105/INDUSTRY_REDESIGNED/171109944/bob-lutz:-kiss-the-good-times-goodbye" target="_blank" rel="noopener">an article published by <i>Automotive News</i></a>. &#8220;For hundreds of years, the horse was the prime mover of humans, and for the past 120 years, it has been the automobile. Now, we are approaching the end of the line for the automobile because travel will be in standardized modules.&#8221;</p>
<figure style="width: 360px" class="wp-caption alignright"><a href="https://futurism.com/images/autonomous-public-transport-the-future-of-the-urban-commute-infographic/"><img src="https://wp-assets.futurism.com/2016/12/HomeThumb.jpg-2.png" alt="Autonomous Public Transport: The Future of the Urban Commute [INFOGRAPHIC]" ></a><figcaption class="wp-caption-text center"><strong><a href="https://futurism.com/images/autonomous-public-transport-the-future-of-the-urban-commute-infographic/" target="_blank">Click to View Full Infographic</a></figcaption></strong></figure>
<p>Lutz expects the transition to autonomous cars to impact consumers fully within the next 15 to 20 years. The &#8220;tipping point,&#8221; as Lutz put it, will be when roughly 20 to 30 percent of vehicles are self-driving, which will cause society to <a href="https://futurism.com/governments-are-investing-in-self-driving-cars-because-they-will-save-lives/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">realize that autonomous cars are safer</a> than those <a href="http://www.who.int/gho/road_safety/mortality/en/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">driven by humans</a>. Human-driven vehicles will then be made illegal on roads, and car owners will either have to scrap their vehicles or trade them in for something that can drive itself.</p>
<h2>Public Acceptance</h2>
<p>Interestingly enough, Lutz doesn&#8217;t believe public acceptance will be necessary for self-driving cars to find success. Companies like Uber, Lyft, FedEx, UPS, the U.S. Postal Service, and Amazon will lead the charge, each buying thousands of low-, medium-, and high-end models to advance their businesses.</p>
<p>Those vehicles won&#8217;t be branded by their manufacturer, according to Lutz. Instead, they&#8217;ll bear the brand of the company using them, so while the autonomous car may look like one of, say, Ford&#8217;s models, it&#8217;ll be branded &#8220;Lyft&#8221; or converted into a UPS truck.</p>
<p><iframe width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/sIlCR4eG8_o?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" gesture="media" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p>Lutz&#8217;s prediction that the end of the automotive era is nigh is supported by a number of recent assertions and actions by others.</p>
<p><a href="https://futurism.com/nvidia-ceo-says-were-4-years-away-from-fully-autonomous-cars/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">NVIDIA&#8217;s CEO thinks</a> we&#8217;re only four years away from fully autonomous cars, and Toyota believes they&#8217;ll have <a href="https://futurism.com/toyota-says-they-will-have-intelligent-talking-cars-by-2020/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">intelligent talking cars</a> by 2020. <a href="https://futurism.com/autonomous-cars-will-be-on-california-roads-in-2018-without-human-drivers/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">California will allow</a> self-driving cars without human drivers to operate on roads by mid-2018, and Google&#8217;s Waymo is expected to launch a <a href="https://futurism.com/fully-driverless-cars-months-away/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">self-driving car service</a> within the next few months.</p>
<p>According to Lutz, automakers will be largely okay for the next 10 to 15 years, operating in a manner similar to what they do today. However, within 20 years, the shift to self-driving vehicles will be complete, and the human-driven automobile, repair facilities, and car dealerships will become relics of the past.</p>
<p>&#8220;I won&#8217;t be around to say, &#8216;I told you so,&#8217; though if I do make it to [105-years old], I could no longer drive anyway because driving will be banned,&#8221; mused Lutz in his article. &#8220;So my timing once again is impeccable.&#8221;</p>


He thinks human-driven vehicles will be legislated off roads.

Former General Motors executive: "We are approaching the end of the automotive era"

Former General Motors VP Bob Lutz says we are approaching the end of the automotive era, with autonomous cars set to replace human-driven transportation.

Former General Motors Executive: "We Are Approaching the End of the Automotive Era"

"Everyone will have 5 years to get their car off the road or sell it for scrap."

Former General Motors Executive: “We Are Approaching the End of the Automotive Era”

<p>Cruise Automation wants to make self-driving cars in New York City a reality as soon as 2018. The self-driving car wing of General Motors has announced plans to <a href="https://futurism.com/the-chevy-bolt-just-bested-teslas-model-s-in-a-range-test/" target="_blank">test Chevy Bolts</a> in an area of Manhattan spanning five square miles, beginning as early as next year. Previously, the company has evaluated how its vehicles perform in an urban setting by testing them out on the streets of San Francisco.</p>
<p>In May 2017, New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo detailed a one-year pilot program that would give automakers the opportunity to apply for permission to test <a href="https://futurism.com/fully-driverless-cars-months-away/" target="_blank">self-driving cars</a> in New York starting in 2018. Cruise Automation has submitted a request, which is expected to be granted, according to <a href="http://money.cnn.com/2017/10/17/technology/future/nyc-gm-autonomous-cars/index.html?sr=fbtech101717nyc-gm-autonomous-cars0346PMVODtopLink&amp;linkId=43601035" target="_blank">a report from CNN</a>.</p>
<p><iframe width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/xojhlhPSs6E?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p>Pedestrians will likely pose the greatest challenge for the Bolts let loose on the streets of Manhattan. Though, the vehicles are programmed to slow down when a human enters their path — a frequent occurrence in crowded city streets.</p>
<p>Up until now, the west coast has been the biggest hotspot for tests of self-driving cars — a trend that appears to be continuing: California is currently tweaking legislation that would <a href="https://futurism.com/autonomous-cars-will-be-on-california-roads-in-2018-without-human-drivers/" target="_blank">allow autonomous vehicles to operate without a human driver</a>, via ordinance which will go into effect next year.</p>


Thanks to a pilot program started by NY Governor Andrew M. Cuomo, companies can apply to test out their cars on the city's streets.

General Motors will soon test self-driving cars in New York City

Cruise Automation is moving forward with its plans to test self-driving cars in a five-mile area of Manhattan as early as next year.

General Motors Will Soon Test Self-Driving Cars in New York City

Self-driving Chevy Bolts will hit a five-mile stretch of Manhattan early next year.

<h2>Truly Autonomous?</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.gm.com/" target="_blank">General Motors (GM)</a> recently made headlines by unveiling <a href="https://futurism.com/general-motors-will-launch-20-all-electric-cars-by-2023/" target="_blank">plans to beef up their electric vehicle (EV) lineup</a>. Now, the veteran carmaker is again in the spotlight, this time for taking a swing at <a href="https://www.tesla.com/" target="_blank">Tesla</a> and Elon Musk.</p>
<figure style="width: 360px" class="wp-caption alignright"><a href="https://futurism.com/images/the-technologies-that-power-self-driving-cars-infographic/"><img src="https://wp-assets.futurism.com/2016/08/Homepage-Thumbnail-17.jpg" alt="The Technologies That Power Self-Driving Cars [INFOGRAPHIC]" ></a><figcaption class="wp-caption-text center"><strong><a href="https://futurism.com/images/the-technologies-that-power-self-driving-cars-infographic/" target="_blank">Click to View Full Infographic</a></figcaption></strong></figure>
<p>While speaking to Australian news outlets in Detroit last week, GM&#8217;s director of autonomous vehicle integration <a href="http://www.caradvice.com.au/589512/gm-elon-musk-is-full-of-crap-on-teslas-autonomous-capability/" target="_blank">Scott Miller criticized Tesla&#8217;s CEO</a> for claiming that his company&#8217;s vehicles are capable of Level 5 autonomy.</p>
<p>“The level of technology and knowing what it takes to do the mission, to say you can be a full Level 5 with just cameras and radars is not physically possible,” said Miller. He went on to add that <a href="http://www.caradvice.com.au/589512/gm-elon-musk-is-full-of-crap-on-teslas-autonomous-capability/" target="_blank">Musk is &#8220;full of crap.&#8221;</a></p>
<h2>Tesla-GM Clash</h2>
<p>In 2014, the U.S.-based <a href="https://www.sae.org/" target="_blank">Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE)</a> released their J3016 document detailing the <a href="https://www.sae.org/misc/pdfs/automated_driving.pdf" target="_blank">levels of automated driving technology</a>. Level 5 represents completely driverless vehicle technology, but at present, most — if not all — self-driving cars fall under Level 3 (conditional autonomy). Miller doesn&#8217;t believe Tesla&#8217;s current Autopilot system has the hardware and software necessary to guarantee Level 5 autonomy.</p>
<p>“To be what an SAE Level 5 full autonomous system is, I don’t think he has the content to do that,” Miller told the Australian press. &#8220;I think you need the right sensors and right computing package to do it. Think about it. We have LIDAR, radar, and cameras on this&#8230; [To] be Level 5, you should have redundancy.&#8221;</p>
<p><iframe width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/HgF7E5q9sU4?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p>As for his own company, GM was <a href="https://futurism.com/general-motors-just-became-the-first-car-manufacturer-to-mass-produce-autonomous-cars/" target="_blank">the first automaker to mass produce autonomous cars</a>, and just yesterday, they <a href="http://www.gm.com/mol/m-2017-oct-1009-lidar1.html" target="_blank">acquired a LIDAR developer</a> to push their self-driving car technology forward. According to Miller, GM expects to be able to produce Level 4 autonomous cars &#8220;within quarters&#8221; and plans to first introduce these vehicles in ride-sharing systems.</p>
<p>The debate between Tesla and GM on what a self-driving system must include in order to achieve Level 5 autonomy can only help the industry by pushing research and innovation. The more automakers we have competing to create next-level autonomous systems, the sooner the public gets to reap the benefits of <a href="https://futurism.com/elon-musk-people-skeptical-of-autonomous-cars-are-essentially-killing-people/" target="_blank">safer roads</a> and a little extra downtime during the morning commute.</p>


The veteran carmaker takes a swing at Tesla.

GM expert calls Elon Musk "full of crap" for saying Teslas can achieve Level 5 autonomy

General Motors' top autonomous systems expert has called out Elon Musk for claiming Tesla's vehicles are capable of Level 5 autonomy.

GM Expert Calls Elon Musk "Full of Crap" for Saying Teslas Can Achieve Level 5 Autonomy

"Full Level 5 with just cameras and radars is not physically possible."

GM Expert Calls Elon Musk “Full of Crap” for Saying Teslas Can Achieve Level 5 Autonomy

<p>Electric vehicles (EVs) are no longer just <a href="https://futurism.com/an-all-electric-vehicle-just-reached-217-mph-in-a-high-speed-test/" target="_blank">for hungry startups</a>. A number of <a href="https://futurism.com/mercedes-maybach-just-revealed-a-new-luxury-electric-convertible/" target="_blank">veteran car makers</a> have joined the <a href="https://futurism.com/porsches-ceo-just-announced-the-companys-big-plans-to-transition-to-electric-cars/" target="_blank">the EV race</a>, launching various<a href="https://futurism.com/see-bmws-gorgeous-vision-for-the-future-of-all-electric-vehicles/" target="_blank"> electric car concepts</a>. Some are even <a href="https://futurism.com/ford-may-soon-be-fully-committed-to-electric-vehicles/" target="_blank">promising to develop only all-electric vehicles</a> from here on out. Now, General Motors (GM) announced on Monday its plans to launch at least 20 new EVs by 2023.</p>
<p>“General Motors believes in an all-electric future,” Mark Reuss, GM Product Development, Purchasing and Supply Chain EVP, said in <a href="http://www.gm.com/mol/m-2017-oct-1002-electric.html" target="_blank">a press release</a>. “Although that future won&#8217;t happen overnight, GM is committed to driving increased usage and acceptance of electric vehicles through no-compromise solutions that meet our customers&#8217; needs.”</p>
<figure class="wp-caption">
<figure id="attachment_104549" style="width: 600px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img class="size-infographicListing wp-image-104549" src="https://wp-assets.futurism.com/2017/10/GM_All_Electric_Path_To_Zero_Emissions-600x413.jpg" alt="electric vehicles general motors electric cars ev" width="600" height="413" /><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">Image credit: General Motors</figcaption></figure>
<p>GM plans to unveil two new all-electric cars in the next 18 months. These cars no doubt will benefit from the experience GM had developing the<a href="https://futurism.com/the-chevy-bolt-just-bested-teslas-model-s-in-a-range-test/" target="_blank"> Chevy Bolt EV</a>, which demonstrated the company&#8217;s dedication to reaching zero emissions. &#8220;These aren&#8217;t just words in a war of press releases,&#8221; Reuss added, according to <i><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/gm-to-launch-20-all-electric-cars-by-2023-2017-10?utm_content=buffer8d115&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_source=facebook.com&amp;utm_campaign=buffer-ti" target="_blank">Business Insider</a></i>. A zero emissions future, GM acknowledged, &#8220;will require more than just battery electric technology.&#8221;</p>
<p>Instead, the car maker has been focused on both electric batteries and hydrogen fuel cells. To that end, GM introduced the Silent Utility Rover Universal Superstructure (SURUS), a four-wheel drive concept vehicle that runs on fuel cells. The SURUS&#8217; heavy-duty truck frame is powered by two electric motors, making it an ideal zero-emission vehicle for delivery trucks and even ambulances.</figure>


GM plans to unveil two new all-electric cars in the next 18 months.

General Motors will launch 20 all-electric cars by 2023

2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV

Earth & Energy

The car industry heavyweight announced on Monday that it plans to unveil at least 20 all-electric vehicles by 2023.

General Motors Will Launch 20 All-Electric Cars by 2023

It looks like the Chevrolet Bolt EV won't be the only electric car to come from GM.

<h2>GM Joins the Race</h2>
<p>There&#8217;s a potential new major player in the <span class="wp-glossary wpg-tooltip" data-termid="73858" data-content="full" data-qtipstyle="dark">autonomous vehicle</span> industry, and its a seasoned player in the automotive market. Veteran car maker General Motors (GM) announced Tuesday that it&#8217;s completed 10 self-driving test vehicles of its <a href="https://futurism.com/heres-chevrolet-bolt-gms-affordable-electric-car/" target="_blank">Chevrolet Bolt electric vehicle (EV)</a>. The cars were manufactured at the company&#8217;s plant in Lake Orion, Michigan. GM believes the achievement could position the company at the head of the autonomous car race.</p>
<p>&#8220;The autonomous vehicles you see here today are purpose-built, self-driving test vehicles,&#8221; GM&#8217;s chairman and CEO Mary Barra told her employees Tuesday morning, <i><a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/cars/2017/06/13/general-motors-we-can-mass-produce-self-driving-cars-now/102805626/" target="_blank">USA Today </a></i><a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/cars/2017/06/13/general-motors-we-can-mass-produce-self-driving-cars-now/102805626/" target="_blank">reported</a>. GM has the platform and the technology to back up its claim: it&#8217;s the first car manufacturer to mass produce self-driving vehicles.</p>
<p>&#8220;The level of integration in these vehicles is on par with any of our production vehicles, and that is a great advantage. In fact, no other company today has the unique and necessary combination of technology, engineering and manufacturing ability to build autonomous vehicles at scale,&#8221; Barra added.</p>
<figure class="wp-caption"><img class="wp-image-86520 size-large aligncenter" src="https://wp-assets.futurism.com/2017/06/Screen-Shot-2017-06-14-at-2.17.42-AM.png" alt="Image credit: General Motors" width="798" height="380" />Image credit: <i>General Motors</i></p>
<h2>Growing a Niche Market</h2>
<p>GM, however, didn&#8217;t rush to mass production when it came to the development of test versions of the Chevy Bolt EV. In addition to the efficiency inherent to <span class="wp-glossary wpg-tooltip" data-termid="73285" data-content="full" data-qtipstyle="dark">electric vehicles</span>, the cars are also designed to be more affordable than other EVs on the market. “To achieve what we want from self-driving cars, we must deploy them at scale,&#8221; Cruise Automation CEO Kyle Vogt <a href="https://www.gm.com/mol/m-2017-jun-0613-boltev.html" target="_blank">said in a press release</a>. &#8220;By developing the next-generation self-driving platform in San Francisco and manufacturing these cars in Michigan, we are creating the safest and most consistent conditions to bring our cars to the most challenging urban roads that we can find.”</p>
<p>Currently, autonomous vehicles are still part of a rather niche market, though a number of studies seem to indicate that soon may change. <a href="http://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/driverless-cars-market">One predicts that by 2024</a>, the demand for self-driving vehicles will have grown to 138,089 units — a huge jump from the current demands. Not only that, <a href="http://www.luxresearchinc.com/news-and-events/press-releases/read/self-driving-cars-87-billion-opportunity-2030-though-none-reach">a previous study</a>, published in 2014, concluded that the autonomous vehicle market would grow to $87 billion by 2030.</p>
<figure class="wp-caption"><img class="wp-image-86527 size-large aligncenter" style="width: 625px; height: 318.421px;" src="https://wp-assets.futurism.com/2017/06/driverless-cars-market.png" alt="Image credit: Grand View Research" width="475" height="242" />Image credit: <i>Grand View Research</i></figure>
<figure class="wp-caption"></figure>
<figure class="wp-caption">Clearly, GM is in the right path. While Tesla may have joined the autonomous vehicle game earlier, GM&#8217;s ability to mass produce these self-driving cars will certainly give it an edge in this growing market. Not to be outdone, Tesla is doubling up efforts, too: the company has already indicated their plan to <a href="https://futurism.com/elon-musk-100-tesla-gigafactories-could-power-entire-world/">build more Gigafactories</a> in the near future.</figure>
</figure>


These autonomous cars can potentially catapult GM into the forefront of the growing self-driving car market.

General Motors Just Became the First Car Manufacturer to Mass Produce Autonomous Cars

The cars are also designed to be more affordable than other EVs on the market.

<p><a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor" target="_blank">Billionaire Elon Musk</a> has invested much of his time in companies that progress humanity towards a sustainable energy future. His work in <a href="http://www.spacex.com/">SpaceX</a>, <a href="http://www.solarcity.com/">SolarCity</a>, and chiefly <a href="https://www.tesla.com/">Tesla</a>, has proven how well-intentioned initiatives can thrive in the economy, especially in light of an <a href="https://futurism.com/facts/tesla-model-3/" target="_blank">upcoming launch.</a></p>
<p>The excitement surrounding <a href="https://futurism.com/5-elon-musk-reveals-model-3-video-on-twitter/" target="_blank">Tesla&#8217;s upcoming Model 3</a> isn&#8217;t just <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/845287211306139648" target="_blank">shaking up social media</a>, it&#8217;s also dramatically hitting the <a href="http://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/Tesla-passes-GM-to-become-America-s-most-valuable-carmaker-GM-TSLA-1001910775-1001910840">U.S. Stock Markets</a>. The environmentally friendly automaker has been gearing up for its next launch strategically, by offering <a href="https://futurism.com/nows-your-chance-to-buy-stock-in-tesla/" target="_blank">risk-reduced public stock in the company</a>.</p>
<p>All that effort looks as though it is paying off. <a href="https://www.tesla.com/" target="_blank">Tesla</a> skyrocketed towards the top of the auto industry as determined by market cap, making numbers comparable to General Motors (GM). On Monday morning, Tesla briefly surpassed GM&#8217;s market with $51 billion, $2 billion more than GM&#8217;s at the time. However, Tesla quickly lost its edge, and as of Tuesday morning the two companies were <a href="http://www.marketwatch.com/story/tesla-briefly-becomes-no-1-us-car-maker-overtaking-gm-2017-04-10">essentially neck-and-neck</a> at around $51 billion, with GM slightly ahead.</p>
<p><iframe width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Y3_Uu7_IMzs?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p>Tesla&#8217;s shares have risen considerably since last December, with shares increasing by over 40 percent to <a href="http://www.marketwatch.com/investing/stock/tsla">today&#8217;s value of $306.69 per share</a>.  However, holding <a href="https://www.tesla.com/" target="_blank">Tesla</a> up against other car manufacturers is not really a one-to-one comparison, as Tesla does <a href="https://futurism.com/tesla-has-reduced-electricity-costs-for-homeowners-by-92/">much more than just manufacture and sell cars</a>. Tesla&#8217;s numbers also look especially good because some of the largest automakers in the industry, such as GM, Ford, and Fiat Chrysler, have felt stagnated sales in their first quarter.</p>
<p>While Tesla has its fingers in a number of pots, it likely owes much of its current success to the model 3.</p>


With brief jump over GM in market cap value on Monday, Tesla is trading at around 40 percent more per share than it was in December, 2016.

Tesla Surged Past GM to Become the Most Valued Automaker in America

We’ve entered a new era in auto manufacturing.

<p>Back in January, attendees at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas found out that <a href="https://futurism.com/heres-chevrolet-bolt-gms-affordable-electric-car/" target="_blank">a new electric car</a> would be rolling out soon, taking us further into what seems to be a complete <a href="https://www.technologyreview.com/s/600910/the-2020s-could-be-the-decade-when-electric-cars-take-over/" target="_blank">EV takeover</a>. What was just a concept back in 2015 was becoming a reality: General Motors&#8217; all-electric Chevy Bolt would be in production by the end of the ear.</p>
<p>Well, the end of the year is coming, and GM is making good on its promise. According to a report last week, the company has <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-gm-bolt-idUSKBN1300PM" target="_blank">escalated production of the Bolt</a> at a factory in Michigan, putting it on track to begin deliveries of vehicle units by the end of 2016, in accordance with Chevrolet&#8217;s <a href="http://www.chevrolet.com/bolt-ev-electric-vehicle.html" target="_blank">previous announcements </a>on their site.</p>
<figure style="width: 783px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img src="https://wp-assets.futurism.com/2016/11/003-1.jpg" alt="Chevrolet" width="783" height="320" /><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">Chevrolet</figcaption></figure>
<p>The all-electric car is a follow-up to the <a href="http://www.chevrolet.com/volt-electric-car.html" target="_blank">Chevy Volt</a>, the company&#8217;s popular gas-and-electric hybrid. It has been <a href="http://money.cnn.com/2015/01/12/autos/detroit-auto-show-chevrolet-volt-bolt/?iid=EL" target="_blank">called a &#8220;game changer&#8221;</a> by GM CEO Mary Barra due to its superior mileage — on Chevy&#8217;s site, they estimate that the Bolt can travel about 383 kilometers (238 miles) on a single full charge.</p>
<p>The arguable frontrunner in the EV market, Tesla&#8217;s <a href="https://www.tesla.com/models" target="_blank">Model S</a>, boasts a similar mileage of 426 kilometers (265 miles) for its 60kWh battery pack model. The kicker is the price difference: while Tesla&#8217;s Model S is priced at a steep $70,000, the Chevy Bolt is expected to cost about half that with an MSRP of $37, 495, which drops to roughly $30,000 after EV incentives.</p>
<p>More affordable but technologically comparable <a href="https://futurism.com/an-affordable-futuristic-electric-car-will-finally-hit-the-streets-in-2017/" target="_blank">alternatives to Tesla</a> could be just what the EV market needs to go mainstream.</p>


Robots & Machines

General Motors has ramped up production on its Chevy Bolt, an all-electric vehicle that can travel about 383 kilometers (238 miles) on a single full charge.
With an MSRP of only $37,495, the Bolt costs roughly half the price of the comparable Tesla Model S and could be just what the EV market needs to go mainstream.

/General Motors

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