The self-driving Chevrolet Bolt - already being tested on busy streets in San Francisco and Phoenix with a human engineer in the vehicle - relies on cameras, radar, and high-precision laser sensors known as lidar for navigation.
Beginning in 2019, the vehicles will be used in a ride-sharing program in multiple American cities, where "the vehicles will travel on a fixed route controlled by their mapping system," Bloomberg reported.
To improve safety, the vehicles will share information with one another and rely on two computer systems, which operate simultaneously so that if one computer encounters a problem, the second computer can serve as a backup, according to GM's self-driving safety report.
The report says the Cruise AV was designed to operate in chaotic, fluid conditions, such as aggressive drivers, jaywalkers, bicyclists, delivery trucks and construction.
"With its advanced sensor systems, the Cruise AV has the capability to see the environment around it, in 360 degrees, day and night," the safety report adds. "It is designed to identify pedestrians in a crosswalk, or an object darting suddenly into its path, and to respond accordingly. It can manoeuvre through construction cones, yield to emergency vehicles and react to avoid collisions."
As The Washington Post reported last month, the ambitious timeline GM has set for getting the Cruise AV on the road could place the automaker in an enviable position -- the unique ability to provide existing ride-hailing companies such as Lyft or Uber with a growing fleet of autonomous vehicles or, better yet, to unleash GM's own service.
The company has access to vast dealership networks, nationwide influence and manufacturing prowess, potentially offering a GM-driven ride-hailing service the opportunity to supplant the Silicon Valley start-ups that have been seeking for years to disrupt the auto industry