GM completes production of 130 self-driving Chevrolet Bolts
GM announced today it has finished making 130 autonomous Chevrolet Bolt test vehicles at its plant in Lake Orion, an achievement that the automaker says will help put it at the forefront of the race to develop and deploy self-driving cars.
Although the Bolts are only in the testing stage, the automaker said it is capable of mass producing autonomous vehicles at the Orion Assembly Plant. CEO and Chairman Mary Barra said GM is the only automaker capable of building a high volume of autonomous vehicles in one of its assembly plants.
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"The autonomous vehicles you see here today are purpose-built, self-driving test vehicles," Barra said before several hundred employees gathered at the plant. "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."
Barra said the self-driving Bolts are designed and produced to meet all of the U.S.' current regulatory standards and leave the plant fully finished.
GM's production process differs from, for example, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and its partnership with Google's Waymo unit. Fiat Chrysler produces special versions of its Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid minivans at its Windsor Assembly Plant that are equipped with the electrical infrastructure needed to support self-driving car sensors and then ships them to Waymo, which retrofits the minivans.
Fiat Chrysler supplied Waymo with 100 Chrysler Pacifica Hybrids last year and announced a deal in April to supply Waymo with 500 more minivans.
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GM has vowed to be the first automaker to launch a production self-driving Bolt EV for ride-sharing in major cities, but has not said what its timeline is.
Several other automakers — including BMW, Ford and Volvo — have said they plan to begin selling fully autonomous vehicles either as fleet vehicles to corporations or to the public within three or four years.
Ford expects to have a test fleet of 90 self-driving Ford Fusions by the end of this year and has said it intends to begin selling a fully autonomous vehicle by 2021. BMW Group, Intel and Mobileye said in January they intend to deploy a test fleet of approximately 40 autonomous vehicles this year and have set 2021 as the date for the introduction of a fully autonomous vehicle.
The Chevrolet Bolt autonomous vehicles unveiled at GM's Orion plant are the second generation of near-Level 4 autonomous vehicles. Level 4 vehicles can largely drive themselves in most situations but a person must still be behind the wheel who is alert and ready to take control if necessary.
The self-driving Bolts are equipped with GM's latest array of equipment, including LIDAR — or radar that uses lasers to help the vehicle see, cameras, sensors and other hardware designed and built by GM and its suppliers.
The white Bolt displayed by GM today can be easily spotted as an autonomous test car because of a roof rack with silver and black LIDAR modules and cameras, side-mounted articulating white radar units that look like two small boxes stacked on top of each other that are used to monitor cross traffic, and extra cameras mounted on the front.
"Each LIDAR has 32 lasers and spins 360 degrees, providing a detailed view of the world to the car," said Kyle Vogt, CEO of Cruise Automation, a company acquired by GM last year that develops the software necessary to operate self-driving cars. “There are even a couple of cameras that are dedicated just to seeing traffic lights to make sure you don’t run red lights.”
The automaker had already built about 50 Chevrolet Bolt autonomous vehicles that were retrofitted with the specialized sensors needed to drive themselves. That gives the automaker a total of 180 vehicles it can test and refine.
GM began testing the first generation of its self-driving Chevrolet Bolts last June in Detroit; Scottsdale, Ariz., and San Francisco. Barra said testing of the new version of the self-driving Bolts will begin soon.
The company began making the second-generation Chevrolet Bolt in January and now has enough vehicles to test and learn from the vehicles, said Andrew Farah, chief technical officer for the self-driving Bolt. Farah said GM wants to learn from this version of the vehicle before it begins making more of them.
GM has been aggressively working to put together the pieces of the puzzle it needs to be a leader when it comes to driverless vehicles.
In 2016, the automaker invested $581 million to acquire Cruise Automation and invested $500 million in ride-sharing company Lyft.
GM is hiring 1,163 additional engineers and other employees to Cruise Automation and is moving the company to a new headquarters in San Francisco.
And earlier this year, GM CFO Chuck Stevens vowed that the automaker would run its autonomous vehicle development like a Silicon Valley start-up, sinking $600 million annually, or $150 million per quarter, into the effort.
Barra also said in December the automaker would be the first company to mass produce autonomous test vehicles and it had picked Orion Assembly, where it builds the Chevrolet Bolt electric vehicle, as the location.
The Chevrolet Bolt electric vehicle, on sale since December, is a front-engine, five-door all-electric subcompact hatchback with an all-electric range of 238 miles. The electric version of the Bolt has been highly acclaimed, winning North American Car of the Year, Motor Trend Car of the Year, Detroit Free Press Car of the Year and other awards.
Contact Brent Snavely: 313-222-6512 or bsnavely@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @BrentSnavely.