The hardware of self-driving cars — that’s the easy part.
The software on the other hand — that takes some heavy duty innovation.
And such is the case still with the newly unveiled the Cruise from GM.
General Motors engulfed Cruise Automation back in 2016 and has since put intense focus on creating the self-driving vehicle mass. And this they have accomplished.
CEO and founder of Cruise, Kyle Vogt, said in a post: “The plant used to build our self-driving cars is massive, requiring the cooperation of over 1,000 people and spanning the area of 75 football fields. There are hundreds of robots, vehicles on tracks that weave, rotate, and climb through the facility, and processes that have been honed to near perfection over decades.”
But they need to iron out some kinks in the software department. Even with fault backup system on top of fault backup system, the Cruise still requires a driver behind the wheel regardless of its plausible failure mode.
For the time being, the rides will be used to transport Cruise employees around San Francisco using the car’s proprietary app with a safety driver in tow. But you can expect to see an actual driverless version of this out and about in the foreseeable future.
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